ILF 


SB    3DT    b3fl 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

GIFT  OF     ' 


C/^ss 


THE 


LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SEEVICES 

0, 

I    HON.  SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN, 

DEMOCRATIC   NOMINEE   FOR    PRESIDENT   OF    THIS    UNITED    STATES. 


TO    WHICH    IS    ADDED    A 

SKETCH  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  HON.  THOMAS  A.  HENDRICRS, 

DEMOCRATIC  NOMINEE  FOR   VICE-PRESIDENT. 


BY 

THEODORE  P.  COOK, 

OF  THE  TJTICA  OBSERVE!:. 


NEW  YOEK : 
D.  APPLE  TON  AND  COMPANY, 

549    &    551     BROADWAY. 

1876. 


1 


ENTERED,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1876,  by 

D.  APPLETON  &  COMPANY, 
In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


PKEFACE. 


THE  accompanying  biography  of  Governor  Tilden  has 
been  announced  as  written  under  his  authority.  It  is 
proper  that  the  reader  should  understand  just  how  far  that 
"  authority  "  extends.  The  author  has  enjoyed  the  per 
sonal  friendship  of  Mr.  Tilden  for  several  years.  He  has 
had  an  opportunity  of  studying  his  character  under  favor 
able  circumstances.  When  it  became  evident  that  the 
Governor  would  be  the  Democratic  candidate  for  the  presi 
dency,  the  author  frankly  announced  to  him  his  desire  to 
write  his  life.  He  not  only  consented  to  the  proposal, 
but  kindly  turned  over  the  numerous  pamphlets,  letters, 
speeches,  messages,  etc.,  emanating  from  him  or  relating 
to  him,  which  he  held  in  his  possession,  and  some  of  which 
papers  were  not  elsewhere  obtainable.  He  also  submitted 
to  a  series  of  inquisitive  (not  to  say  inquisitorial)  inter 
views,  in  the  course  of  which  he  promptly  answered  all 
questions  which  a  healthy  desire  for  information  could 
suggest.  He  gave  the  author  the  freest  access  to  the  rec 
ords  and  memorials  of  his  life,  and  assisted  him  to  prosecute 
his  inquiries  on  some  questions  where  controversies  had 
arisen.  In  the  sense  which  this  explanation  covers,  and  in 
no  other  sense,  the  work  is  issued  under  his  authority. 
The  author  is  alone  responsible  for  what  it  contains. 


iv  PREFACE. 

Much  more  time  lias  been  devoted  to  verifying  facts 
and  to  sifting  rumors  in  relation  to  Governor  Tilden  than 
to  polishing  the  style  of  the  following  pages.  An  honest 
effort  has  been  made  to  tell  in  a  straightforward  manner 
the  events  and  incidents  which  mark  the  eventful  career 
of  Samuel  J.  Tilden.  The  work  has  been  rapidly  done, 
and  the  author  knows  that  from  a  literary  standpoint  it  is 
quite  imperfect.  The  design  was,  to  make  it  comprehen 
sive  in  its  scope  and  accurate  in  its  details.  If  that  design 
has  been  fulfilled,  the  reader  will  probably  forgive  the 
numerous  faults  which  are  inseparable  from  hasty  writing. 

The  sketch  of  Governor  Hendricks  has  been  prepared 
from  matter  furnished  by  a  gentleman  who  was  author 
ized  by  him  to  perform  the  work. 

T.  P.  C. 

DAILY  OBSEKVEB  OFFICE,  UTICA,  July  15,  1876. 


CONTENTS. 


PAOE 

PREFACE 

CHAP. 

I.  Ancestry,  Birth,  and  Boyhood 
II.  College  Career — Early  Successes  as  a  Political  Writer  and 

Speaker— 1834-'38  .  •          9 

III.  Mr.  Tilden  and  the  Working-men— 1838     .  16 

IV.  The  Campaign  of  1840— Mr.  Tilden's  Speech  on  Finance          .        24 

V.  His  Law-Office — His  Acquaintance— Silas  Wright  and  Others 

—He  establishes  a  Paper,  helps  to  elect  a  President,  and 
declines  the  Naval  Office— 184 1-'4 5      .  41 

VI.  In  the  Assembly  and  Constitutional  Convention — 1816  .        47 
VII.  Sumptuary  Legislation 

VIII.  Mr.  Tilden  as  a  Lawyer— The  Flagg  Case          .  .        57 

IX.  The  Burdell  Case    .  62 

X.  The  Pennsylvania  Coal  Company's  Case 

XL  The  Terre  Haute,  Alton  &  St.  Louis  Railroad  Case  73 

XII.  His  Position  during  the  War    . 

XIII.  The  "  Tammany  Ring  " — Its  Members 

XIV.  Mr.  Tilden's  History  of  the  Overthrow  of  the  Tammany  Ring  .        93 
XV.  Elected  Governor  of  New  York— 1874        .  ..  130 

XVI.  First  Annual  Message    .  .139 

XVII.  The  Louisiana  Outrage        .  I*78 
XVIII.  The  "  Canal  Ring"  and  its  Overthrow  . 

XIX.  The  Government  Municipalities      .  .            .                         225 

XX.  Second  Annual  Message— 1876             .  .            •            .241 


vi  CONTENTS. 

CHAP.  PAGK 

XXI.  The  Veto  of  the  Pauper-Labor  Bill— 1876  ...  291 

XXII.  The  Preliminary  Canvass  for  the  Presidency    .             .  .      295 

XXIII.  The  St.  Louis  Convention   .....  303 

XXIV.  Speech  of  Acceptance   ......      335 

XXV.  Governor  Tilden's  Letter  of  Acceptance     .-            .            .  339 

XXVI.  A  Study  of  Mr.  Tilden's  Character        .  354 


A  SKETCH  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  HON.  THOMAS  A.  HENDRICKS. 

CHAP.  PAGE 

I.  Life  and  Character  ......  363 

II.  Speech  at  Indianapolis  .  .  .  .  .  .376 

III.  Speech  at  Zanesville  .  .  .  .  .  397 

IV.  Speech  at  Philadelphia  .-.....-     414 
V.  His  Views  on  Temperance  Legislation        .  .  .  434 


THE  LIFE  OF  SAMUEL  J,  TILDEN. 


CHAPTER     I. 

ANCESTRY,    BIKTH,    AND    BOYHOOD. 

SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN  was  born  in  New  Lebanon,  Columbia 
County,  New  York,  on  the  9th  day  of  February,  1814.  He 
comes  of  a  sturdy  and  an  honest  race.  His  ancestors  were 
among  the  earliest  recruits  to  the  little  band  of  Puritan  pil 
grims  who  settled  Massachusetts.  Before  coming  to  these 
shores,  in  the  freedom-loving  county  of  Kent,  in  England, 
the  Tildens  had  gained  distinction.  Nathaniel  Tilden  was 
mayor  of  the  city  of  Tenterden,  England,  in  1623.  His 
uncle  John  had  held  the  office  in  1585  and  1600.  Nathaniel 
was  succeeded  by  his  nephew  John.  Kent  was  a  county  of 
farmers.  It  was  divided  into  small  estates,  which  were  in 
herited  equally  among  the  children  of  the  family,  Kent  re 
fusing  to  accept  the  law  of  primogeniture.  It  was  a  king 
dom  by  itself  under  the  Saxon  heptarchy,  and  it  maintained 
its  independence  in  a  remarkable  degree. 

Nathaniel  Tilden,  with  nine  other  men  of  Kent,  sailed 
for  America  in  the  ship  Ann,  in  1634,  and  became  one  of  the 
founders  of  the  town  of  Scituate,  Massachusetts.  His  brother, 
Joseph  Tilden,  was  one  of  the  consignors  of  the  Mayflower. 
Nathaniel's  wife  was  Hannah  Bourne,  one  of  whose  sisters 
married  a  brother  of  Governor  Winslow,  and  another  the  son 
of  Governor  Bradford.  After  Nathaniel  Til  den's  death  his 
1 


2  THE   LIFE   OF  SAMUEL   J.  TILDEN. 

widow  wedded  Timothy  Hatherby,  another  consignor  of  the 
Mayflower,  who  was  a  leader  of  opinion  in  Scituate  until  he 
was  driven  thence  for  refusing  to  persecute  the  Quakers. 

The  second  generation  of  Tildens  in  America  settled  in 
Lebanon,  Connecticut.  Among  the  ancestors  of  the  Govern 
or  in  that  town  was  Colonel  Daniel  Tilden,  a  stanch  friend 
of  Jefferson,  and  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Democratic 
party.  When  the  news  came  of  the  battle  of  Lexington,  in 
April,  1775,  Daniel  Tilden  raised  a  company  of  men,  and 
marched  to  the  relief  of  the  imperiled  patriots  of  Massa 
chusetts.  He  returned  from  that  expedition,  and  was  fore 
most  in  the  movement  which  led,  that  same  year,  to  the  en 
rollment  of  the  Connecticut  militia  for  the  war.  This  was 
months  before  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  Under  this 
organization  Israel  Putnam  received  his  commission  as  briga 
dier-general,  while  Daniel  Tilden  enlisted  under  him  and 
entered  the  Revolutionary  service  as  a  captain.  At  the  bat 
tle  of  Trenton  he  commanded  the  company  in  which  James 
Monroe  served  as  a  lieutenant.  Many  years  later,  when 
President  Monroe  visited  Connecticut,  he  sought  out  his  old 
commander  and  revived  the  reminiscences  of  their  early  cam 
paigns. 

Lebanon  was  the  headquarters  of  the  patriots  in  Connect 
icut  during  the  Revolution.  It  is  a  quaint  old  town,  with  a 
main  street  nearly  five  hundred  feet  wide,  shaded  by  trees, 
some  of  which  are  now  two  centuries  old.  It  was  the  home 
of  Connecticut's  Revolutionary  Governor,  Jonathan  Trum- 
bull,  the  original  "  Brother  Jonathan "  of  our  national 
legends.  It  was  to  him  that  General  Washington  went  on 
many  occasions  for  comfort  and  counsel.  Governor  Trumbull 
called  around  him  his  own  chosen  band  of  advisers,  shrewd 
men,  loving  liberty  with  all  their  hearts,  and  meaning  to 
achieve  the  blessing  they  sought  by  taking  advantage  of  all 
the  blunders  and  follies  of  their  enemies. 

In  1790  Governor  Tilden's  grandfather,  John  Tilden,  re 
moved  to  the  State  of  New  York,  and  made  his  home  in 


ANCESTRY,   BIRTH,   AND  BOYHOOD.  3 

Columbia  County,  in  a  town  christened  New  Lebanon  in 
honor  of  that  Connecticut  village  from  which  the  Tildens  and 
other  settlers  came.  Here  in  New  Lebanon  the  Governor's 
father  came  to  man's  estate,  and  conducted  a  farm  while  he 
also  carried  on  business  as  a  merchant. 

The  Governor's  ancestors  on  his  mother's  side  trace  their 
family  line  direct  to  William  Jones,  who  was  Lieutenant- 
Governor  of  the  colony  of  New  Haven.  In  England  this 
family  was  connected  by  marriage  with  Oliver  Cromwell,  and 
was  associated  by  sympathy  with  him  and  with  John  Hamp- 
den.  Wide  differences  of  opinion  exist  with  regard  to  the 
Protector  and  his  followers,  but  nobody  disputes  their  cour 
age.  The  fearless  nature  of  these  men  was  reproduced  in 
some  of  their  families — certainly  in  this  remote  descendant 
of  Governor  William  Jones  with  whom  we  deal. 

There  has  been  a  natural  tendency  in  the  United  States, 
which  gradually  lessens  as  the  years  advance,  to  "  scorn  the 
claims  of  high  descent."  The  conceded  equality  of  all  men 
before  the  law  generated  the  belief  that  there  was  nothing 
in  blood  that  would  "  tell."  But  there  is.  Generations  of 
self-reliant,  firm-hearted,  freedom-loving  people  bring  forth 
fruit  after  their  kind.  Figs  are  not  of  thistles,  nor  grapes  of 
thorns.  The  traditions  of  Tilden's  home  were  the  traditions 
of  liberty,  of  enterprise,  of  energy  overcoming  obstacles. 
They  were  not  thrown  away  upon  him.  He  may  be  said  to 
have  inherited  clear  perceptive  faculties  and  perfect  fearless 
ness. 

He  was  born  in  the  year  before  the  close  of  the  last  war 
with  Great  Britain.  That  war  was  followed  by  a  protracted 
season  of  high  prices  and  general  suffering  which  stands 
without  parallel  in  the  history  of  the  country.  Almost  the 
first  words  that  the  child  Samuel  comprehended  were  those 
which  conveyed  the  meaning  of  hard  times.  His  parents 
were  well-to-do  in  comparison  with  most  of  their  neighbors, 
but  they  did  not  escape  the  wide-spread  calamities  of  the 
period.  Young  Samuel  was  not  counted  a  precocious  boy. 


4  THE   LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

He  was  small  for  his  years,  and  his  health  was  uncertain. 
Lacking  for  a  time  the  companionship  of  children,  he  early 
learned  to  listen  to  his  elders,  and  would  sit  with  wondering 
eyes  while  they  enlarged  on  the  evils  of  the  times.  It  is  pos 
sible  that  these  first  impressions  produced  a  lasting  influence 
on  the  undeveloped  mind  of  the  boy,  and  shaped  the  destiny 
of  his  life. 

The  leading  citizen  of  Columbia  County  during  Samuel 
J.  Tilden's  boyhood,  and  for  many  subsequent  years,  was 
Martin  Van  Buren,  eighth  President  of  the  United  States. 
He  was  a  man  who  sought  the  advice  of  his  neighbors,  and 
knew  how  to  utilize  a  sound  opinion  from  whatever  quarter 
it  came.  Oftentimes  he  rode  over  from  his  home  in  Kinder- 
hook  to  New  Lebanon,  to  take  counsel  of  the  Tildens.  His 
reflective  Dutch  nature  gained  something  by  coming  into 
contact  with  the  minds  of  these  thrifty  and  self-opinionated 
Yankees.  He  and  they  were  reared  in  different  schools,  and 
they  clung  to  their  traditions  with  inflexible  tenacity  ;  but 
none  the  less  they  admired  Mr.  Van  Buren's  superior  talents, 
his  indescribable  shrewdness,  and  his  unquestioned  ability  to 
solidify  the  nebulous  forces  of  politics  into  a  positive  power. 

The  year  1832  is  memorable  in  the  political  annals  of  the 
State  of  New  York.  What  was  known  as  the  Albany  Re 
gency  had  been  in  existence  some  thirteen  years.  The  Re 
gency  may  be  described  as  an  honest  ring,  which  sought  the 
promotion  of  worthy  ends  through  the  power  of  party  disci 
pline.  It  was  the  first  effort  at  thorough  organization  which 
the  State  or  the  country  had  seen.  Before  the  birth  of  the 
Regency  the  politicians  trusted  blindly  to  the  drift  of  the 
currents.  The  Regency  guided  the  currents,  and,  by  fore 
casting  public  opinion,  brought  about  results  with  almost  un 
erring  accuracy.  Mr.  Van  Buren,  from  1819  to  the  time  of 
his  elevation  to  the  presidency  in  1837,  was  at  the  head  of 
the  Regency.  William  L.  Marcy,  Azariah  C.  Flagg,  and 
Edwin  Croswell,  the  editor  of  the  Albany  Argus,  were 
among  his  early  and  most  trusted  lieutenants.  During  the 


ANCESTRY,   BIRTH,   AND  BOYHOOD.  5 

thirteen  years  from  1819  to  1832  Mr.  Van  Buren  reaped  an 
abundant  harvest  of  political  honors.  He  was  elected  (1821) 
to  the  United  .States  Senate  ;  reflected  in  1827  ;  resigned 
that  office  in  1828  to  become  Governor  of  the  State  of  New 
York  ;  resigned  the  governorship  within  three  months  from 
the  time  he  entered  on  his  duties  to  become  Secretary  of 
State  in  Jackson's  cabinet  (March,  1829)  ;  and  in  1831  re 
signed  that  office  and  took  an  appointment  as  minister  to 
England.  The  Senate  refused  to  confirm  him,  and  he  re 
turned  home  to  accept  a  nomination  for  Vice-President  on 
the  ticket  with  Jackson.  This  brings  us  down  to  1832,  when 
Samuel  J.  Tilden  first  made  himself  felt  in  politics. 

He  was  eighteen  years  old.  One  who  knew  him  then 
describes  him  as  a  tall  lad — his  slender  form  giving  him  the 
appearance  of  greater  height  than  he  possessed — with  a  pale 
face,  firm  lips,  and  full,  blue  eyes.  Even  at  that  early  age 
the  discussion  of  politics  had  engaged  his  attention  for  years. 
In  the  store,  by  the  fireside,  on  the  farm,  everywhere,  the 
exciting  events  of  Jackson's  Administration  formed  the  staple 
topic  of  conversation  among  all  classes  of  people  old  and 
young.  He  had  no  difficulty,  therefore,  in  comprehending 
the  political  situation.  The  State  of  New  York,  always  de 
batable  ground,  was  more  evenly  divided  than  usual.  The 
opponents  of  the  Administration,  under  the  name  of  Na 
tional  Republicans,  had  formed  a  coalition  with  the  Anti- 
masonic  organization.  This  last-named  party,  which  stands 
as  an  anomaly  in  political  history,  was  established  for  the 
purpose  of  destroying  the  masonic  order.  It  grew  originally 
out  of  the  excitement  attendant  on  the  alleged  abduction 
and  murder,  in  September,  1826,  of  William  Morgan,  of  Ba- 
tavia,  New  York,  who  was  said  to  have  exposed  the  secrets 
of  the  masons,  and  to  have  met  his  death  on  that  account. 
Within  a  year  the  movement  gathered  such  strength  that,  at 
the  election  of  1827,  it  carried  the  counties  of  Genesee,  Mon 
roe,  Livingston,  Orleans,  and  Niagara, -in  face  of  both  the 
existing  parties.  At  the  election  of  1828  the  Antimasons 


6  THE  LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

cast  33,345  votes  for  Solomon  Southwick  for  Governor ;  if 
they  could  have  united  that  vote  with  the  vote  of  the  Na 
tional  Republicans,  it  would  have  defeated  Mr.  Van  Buren. 
In  1830  such  a  coalition  was  arranged ;  Francis  Granger  be 
came  the  Antimasonic,  National  Republican  candidate  for 
Governor,  and  was  opposed  by  Enos  T.  Throop,  the  Demo 
cratic  nominee.  Governor  Throop  was  elected  by  a  majority 
of  8,400  in  a  total  poll  of  230,000.  When  the  lines  were 
drawn  for  the  exciting  canvass  of  1832,  the  Antimasons  held 
a  national  convention  in  Philadelphia,  and  nominated  William 
Wirt  for  President.  The  National  Republicans,  who  were 
really  the  Whigs  of  that  day,  and  the  devoted  followers  of 
Henry  Clay,  made  him  their  candidate.  The  Democrats,  as  I 
have  shown,  renominated  General  Jackson,  and  unanimously 
selected  Martin  Van  Buren  for  Vice-President.  It  was  clear 
that  the  election  in  New  York  must  turn  on  the  ability  or 
the  iijability  of  the  Antimasons  and  National  Republicans  to 
improve  on  their  coalition  of  two  years  before,  and  unite  in 
one  solid  column  all  who  opposed  masonry  and  all  who  op 
posed  Jackson.  With  this  object  in  view,  the  Antimasonic 
Convention  assembled  on  the  21st  *of  June,  1832,  and  re- 
nominated  Francis  Granger  for  Governor,  and  put  forward 
the  names  of  a  full  electoral  ticket.  On  the  25th  of  July 
this  entire  electoral  ticket,  together  with  the  State  ticket  of 
the  Antimasons,  was  adopted  by  the  National  Republicans. 
If  the  presidential  electors  had  an  understanding  as  to 
whether  in  the  event  of  their  election  their  votes  were  to  be 
given  to  Clay  or  to  Wirt,  they  kept  it  bravely  to  themselves.  • 
This  combination  threatened  to  be  exceedingly  strong — to 
draw  in  not  only  the  elements  which  it  professed  to  control, 
but  also  such  Democrats  as  were  dissatisfied  with  the  Albany 
Regency,  and  such  also  as  had  been  friends  of  the  United 
States  Bank.  To  break  or  weaken  the  coalition  was  a  task 
which  might  well  engage  the  attention  of  the  foremost  minds 
of  the  party  ;  and  it  was  the  boy  Sam  Tilden  who  did  it ! 
Young  Tilden  had  listened  attentively  to  the  arguments 


ANCESTRY,   BIRTH,  AND  BOYHOOD.  7 

pro  and  con.  He  was  particularly  struck  with  the  clear  and 
forcible  statement  of  the  case  put  forth  by  an  uncle  who  was 
staying  at  his  father's  house  at  the  time.  Big  with  the  sub 
ject,  he  went  to  his  own  room  and  wrote  out  an  elaborate 
"  Address  to  the  People  "  on  the  subject  of  the  coalition. 
He  enlarged  both  on  the  insincerity  of  the  movement  and  on 
the  folly  of  it.  He  showed  how  the  politicians  in  the  name 
of  Antimasonry  had  not  scrupled  to  combine  with  the  masons 
in  good  standing  who  were  opposed  to  Jackson.  He  reviewed 
the  action  of  the  two  conventions  which  had  joined  in  pre 
senting  the  coalition  ticket,  and  dwelt  on  the  dead  silence 
they  had  both  preserved  in  regard  to  the  course  the  electors 
should  pursue  in  case  they  were  successful.  He  pointed  out 
the  hollowness  of  the  movement  so  far  as  the  presidential 
candidates  were  concerned.  If  it  benefited  Mr.  Clay,  it  must 
benefit  him  at  the  expense  of  Mr.  Wirt.  Were  the  Anti- 
masons  ready  to  do  that  ?  If  it  assisted  Mr.  Wirt,  it  must 
hurt  Mr.  Clay.  Were  the  National  Republicans  who  pro 
fessed  such  boundless  love  for  the  Kentucky  statesmen  will 
ing  to  become  parties  to  such  a  plot  ? 

At  every  point  the  address  was  vigorous,  logical,  and  mar- 
velously  convincing.  I  doubt  if  such  clear  political  ideas 
were  ever  before  conveyed  in  language  so  appropriate  by  a 
youth  of  eighteen.  Having  finished  the  address,  which  was 
not  a  brief  affair  by  any  means,  Samuel  submitted  it  to  the 
criticism  of  his  father.  The  elder  Tilden  listened  to  the  read 
ing  of  it  with  marked  attention.  He  did  not  dare  to  tell  his 
son  how  pleased  he  was  with  the  production.  He  feared  to 
trust  his  unaided  judgment  as  to  the  merit  of  the  work,  lest 
it  should  betray  him  into  an  extravagant  estimate  of  his  boy's 
talent.  Mr.  Van  Buren  was  staying  at  Lebanon  Springs. 
He  was  a  critic  whose  judgment  was  unerring.  To  him, 
therefore,  the  father  and  son  went  and  submitted  the  address. 
The  shrewd  statesman  saw  at  a  glance  that  it  was  precisely 
what  was  wanted.  He  did  not  stop  to  inquire  the  age  of  the 
author.  He  accepted  him  off-hand  as  one  worthy  to  think 


8  THE   LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

for  the  party.  At  Mr.  Van  Buren's  suggestion  the  address 
was  signed  by  a  dozen  leading  Democrats  in  the  State,  and 
put  forth  officially  through  the  columns  of  the  Albany  Argus^ 
where  it  occupied  half  a  page.  That  it  produced  an  effect 
may  be  judged  from  the  fact  that  the  Albany  Evening  Jour 
nal  charged  the  authorship  of  it  upon  Martin  Van  Buren, 
and  accepted  it  as  the  supreme  effort  of  the  Democrats  to 
break  the  coalition  of  their  opponents.  Thereupon  the  Argus, 
announced,  "  on  the  authority  of  Mr.  Van  Buren,"  that  he 
did  not  write  the  address.  It  was  successful  in  the  sense 
that  all  Mr.  Tilden's  later  papers  are  successful — it  set  people 
to  thinking.  The  coalition  was  really  broken  even  before  the 
election  occurred.  The  Antimasons  became  distrustful  of 
their  allies,  and  the  National  Republicans  began  to  think 
they  had  made  a  mistake.  The  Democrats  carried  the  State 
by  a  majority  approximating  10,000,  and  no  more  was  heard 
of  Antimasonry  in  politics.  It  was  the  first  victory  in  which 
Samuel  J.  Tilden  bore  a  part. 

The  next  year  (1833)  he  passed  the  preliminary  examina 
tion  for  admission  to  Yale  College. 


CHAPTER    II. 

COLLEGE    CAREER — EARLY  SUCCESSES  AS    A   POLITICAL   WRITER 
AND    SPEAKER— 1834-'38. 

MR.  TILDEN'S  career  at  Yale  College  presents  no  other 
point  of  interest  than  that  he  was  a  member  of  the  class  of 
1837,  to  which  William  M.  Evarts,  Chief- Justice  Waite,  Ed 
wards  Pierrepont,  and  other  famous  men  belonged.  He  did 
not  remain  there  any  considerable  time. 

He  is  remembered  as  a  studious  young  man  ;  good- 
natured,  helpful  to  his  associates,  and  shy.  He  won  the 
respect  of  the  faculty  ;  and,  in  after  years,  the  college  con 
ferred  upon  him  the  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws. 
He  did  not  graduate  at  Yale.  Toward  the  end  of  his 
first  year  his  health  failed  him.  His  ambition  exceeded  his 
strength,  and  he  applied  himself  so  closely  to  his  books, 
and  gave  himself  such  limited  time  for  physical  exercise,  that 
he  broke  down  under  the  strain.  The  lesson  which  his  severe 
sickness  taught  him  has  been  of  use  to  him  during  all  his  sub 
sequent  life.  Amid  the  engrossing  cares  of  his  professional 
and  political  career  he  has  found  time  for  a  long  walk  or  ride 
every  day,  and  has  thus  preserved  his  health  and  husbanded 
his  strength  in  a  remarkable  degree.  He  went  home  from 
college  doubtful  if  he  should  again  be  able  to  enter  upon  a 
student's  life.  But  the  air  of  his  country-home,  and  the  ab 
solute  relinquishment  of  his  books  for  a  time,  restored  him. 
But  he  did  not  again  return  to  New  Haven.  It  was  decided 
that  he  should  complete  his  academic  course  at  the  University 
of  New  York  that  he  might  be  near  to  his  father's  faithful 
friend  and  adviser,  the  late  Judge  John  W.  Edmonds,  in 


10  THE  LIFE  OF  SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

whose  office  he  had  already  decided  to  read  law.  At  the  uni 
versity  he  gave  careful  attention  to  his  various  studies,  but 
his  mind  was  largely  occupied  with  the  consideration  of  po 
litical  topics.  In  the  summer  of  1837,  just  before  he  gradu 
ated,  he  won  a  second  conspicuous  success  as  writer  on  pub 
lic  affairs.  To  understand  the  scope  of  his  work  it  is  neces 
sary  to  review  briefly  the  political  situation  at  that  time  : 

About  the  10th  of  May,  1837,  two  months  after  Mr.  Van 
Buren's  inauguration,  the  banks  in  the  city  ©f  New  York  sus 
pended  specie  payments,  and  almost  simultaneously  all  the 
banks  in  the  country  followed  their  example.  The  causes 
which  led  to  this  general  suspension  were  numerous  and 
complex.  After  the  removal  of  the  Government  deposits 
from  the  United  States  Bank,  the  money  had  been  placed  in 
the  State  banks — a  large  portion  of  it  in  the  city  of  New 
York.  This  money  had  been  freely  used  by  the  banks  for 
discount  purposes,  and  was  treated  as  a  part  of  their  capital. 
In  1836  the  speculation  in  public  lands  had  reached  its 
height.  Partly  to  check  it,  and  partly  to  protect  the  Govern 
ment  from  loss,  General  Jackson  issued  an  order  that  the 
land-offices  should  receive  nothing  but  gold  and  silver,  or 
certificates  of  deposit  in  specie  in  the  United  States  Treasury 
in  payment  of  land.1  The  speculation  did  not  cease,  but  the 
heavy  drafts  on  the  banks  tended  to  exhaust  their  supply  of 
gold.  The  Government  was  entirely  free  from  debt  that 
year,  and  had  accumulated  a  surplus  of  forty  million  dollars. 
Congress,  to  the  surprise  and  disgust  of  the  banks  that  were 
holding  and  using  this  sum,  ordered  that  it  should  be  dis 
tributed  pro  rata  among  the  States.  To  these  principal 
causes  many  minor  causes  contributed  their  share  toward 
producing  the  "  panic  "  of  1837.  It  came  so  suddenly  and 
swept  so  swiftly  through  the  land  that  nobody  was  prepared 
for  it.  It  complicated  and  threatened  to  paralyze  the  affairs 
of  the  Federal  Government.  In  1836  Congress  passed  a  law 
requiring  the  officers  of  the  Treasury  not  to  deposit  the 

1  Hammond's  "  Political  History  of  New  York,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  463. 


EARLY   SUCCESSES  AS  A  POLITICAL  WRITER.  H 

national  funds  in  any  bank  which  did  not  on  demand  redeem 
its  notes  in  specie.  By  the  act  of  1816  United  States  officers 
were  forbidden  to  pay  out  any  notes  not  redeemable  in  coin. 
At  the  time  of  the  suspension  every  dollar  belonging  to  the 
Government  was  in  the  possession  of  the  banks,  and  the 
banks  refused  to  pay  out  any  specie  even  to  the  Government. 
Under  these  circumstances  Mr.  Van  Buren,  on  the  15th  of 
May,  issued  a  proclamation  calling  Congress  together  in 
extra  session  on  the  4th  of  September.  When  the  Congress 
had  assembled  the  President  addressed  the  two  Houses  in  a 
special  message,  clearly  setting  forth  the  financial  condition 
of  the  Government.  He  showed  the  necessity  of  some  ac 
tion,  and  then  proceeded  to  discuss  the  various  possible  plans 
of  deliverance.  He  had  pledged  himself  to  oppose  the  char 
tering  of  a  national  bank,  and  on  that  issue  he  had  been 
elected,  and  must  redeem  his  pledge.  He  showed  that  the 
experiment  of  depositing  the  Government  funds  in  State 
banks  had  been  tried  three  times,  and  had  signally  failed  in 
every  instance.  What,  then,  was  to  be  done  ?  In  obedi 
ence  to  the  behest  of  the  Constitution,  he  recommended  that 
the  Treasury  of  the  people  should  be  kept  by  the  officers  of 
the  people,  and  that  there  should  be  an  entire  and  total 
separation  of  the  business  and  property  of  the  Government 
from  the  business  and  concerns  of  the  banks.1 

The  remedy  seems  simple  and  sensible  enough  after  this 
lapse  of  years,  but  at  that  time  it  provoked  fierce  opposition 
from — 1.  The  banks  ;  2.  The  people  who  wanted  favors  of 
the  banks  (and  they  were  numerous)  ;  and,  3.  The  political 
opponents  of  the  President,' who  charged  him  with  a  desire 
to  set  up  a  money-holding  crowd  of  irresponsible  office-hold 
ers.  Congress  straightway  divided  on  the  question,  and  not 
party-wise.  Mr.  N.  P.  Tallmadge,  who  was  then  a  Demo 
cratic  Senator  in  Congress  from  New  York,  opposed  Mr.  Van 
Buren's  plan  for  an  Independent  Treasury,  and  (with  Mr. 
Rives,  of  Virginia)  declared  himself  a  "  Conservative."  The 
1  Hammond,  vol.  ii.,  p.  475. 


12  THE  LIFE  OF   SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

bill  passed  the  Senate,  however,  but  in  the  House  a  sufficient 
number  of  Conservatives  joined  with  the  Whigs  to  de 
feat  it.  So  Congress  adjourned  without  doing  anything 
except  to  authorize  the  issue  of  a  limited  amount  of  Treas 
ury  notes. 

The  Independent  Treasury  question  threatened  to  split 
the  Democratic  party  in  the  State  of  New  York.  On  this 
question,  at  least,  the  general  inclination  seemed  to  be  to 
oppose  Mr.  Van  Buren.  In  September,  while  Congress  was 
still  in  session,  a  series  of  papers  signed  "  Marshall "  ap 
peared  in  the  Albany  Argus,  contesting  the  wisdom  of  the 
President's  recommendations  and  advocating  resistance  to 
their  adoption  on  the  part  of  the  Democratic  party.  Mr. 
Tilden  read  these  articles  (which  are  supposed  to  have  ema 
nated  from  one  of  the  leading  lawyers  and  statesmen  of 
that  day),  and  set  himself  the  task  of  answering  them.  He 
prepared  for  the  Argus  a  number  of  papers,  to  which  he 
attached  the  signature  "  Crino."  They  produced  an  immedi 
ate  effect.  They  were  written  in  an  admirably  terse  and 
correct  style,  and  they  evinced  such  comprehensive  knowl 
edge  of  governmental  affairs,  political  economy,  law,  and 
finance,  that  they  were  ascribed  by  common  consent  to  Esek 
Cowen,  then  one  of  the  justices  of  the  New  York  Supreme 
Court,  a  man  of  large  learning  and  marked  ability.  Nobody 
suspected  that  they  came  from  a  young  fellow  who  had  not 
yet  completed  his  college  education.  They  were  not  only 
well  written,  but  the  views  they  contained  were  sound,  and 
have  withstood  the  test  of  time. 

The  financial  revulsion  produced  a  political  revolution  in 
New  York.  In  the  November  election  (1837),  the  Whigs 
carried  101  of  the  128  Assembly  districts,  and  three-quarters 
of  the  Senate  districts.  The  previous  year  the  Democrats 
had  been  victorious  everywhere  through  the  State,  and  they 
believed  their  strength  was  invincible.  They  were  utterly 
bewildered,  therefore,  at  this  astonishing  and  unprecedented 
triumph  of  their  opponents. 


EARLY   SUCCESSES  AS  A   POLITICAL   WRITER.  13 

In  1838  Mr.  Tilden,  who  was  growing  more  and  more  in 
terested  in  politics,  played  a  conspicuous  part  in  the  campaign 
as  a  participant  in  a  well-remembered  debate.  It  happened 
in  this  way  :  The  Democrats  renominated  Governor  Marcy, 
trusting  to  his  deserved  popularity  to  regain  the  ground  lost 
the  previous  year.  The  Whigs,  feeling  that  they  were  on 
the  road  to  victory,  threw  aside  their  old  leaders,  who  had 
been  beaten  full  often,  and  named  for  Governor  the  most  brill 
iant  young  man  in  their  ranks,  William  H.  Sevvard,  who  at 
that  time  was  only  thirty-eight  years  old.  The  so-called  Con 
servatives,  who  had  failed  to  impress  on  the  Democracy  their 
opposition  to  an  Independent  Treasury,  called  an  informal 
convention  at  Syracuse,  on  the  3d  of  October,  and  resolved 
to  support  Seward.  Senator  Tallmadge,  not  only  by  reason 
of  his  high  official  position,  but  also  because  of  his  power  as  a 
public  speaker,  was  the  acknowledged  leader  of  this  bolt.  He 
was  enthusiastically  received  by  the  Whigs,  who  expected 
through  him  to  convert  a  large  number  of  Democrats.  During 
the  month  of  October  he  was  advertised  to  address  the  citi 
zens  of  Columbia  County.  "The  meeting  was  very  fully  at 
tended,  and  was  composed  in  about  equal  parts  of  Democrats 
and  Whigs.  The  Democrats  had  come,  not  to  be  "  con 
verted,"  but  to  hear  what  excuse  their  Senator  had  to  offer 
for  deserting  them.  The  Whigs,  of  course,  controlled  the 
meeting.  The  burden  of  Mr.  Tallmadge's  speech,  so  far  as  it 
related  to  himself,  was  that  he  had  not  changed  his  opinions  ; 
that  it  was  the  Democrats  who  had  gone  away  from  him,  and 
not  he  who  had  gone  from  them.  He  then  entered  into  an 
elaborate  discussion  of  the 'Independent  Treasury  bill  and 
other  current  issues.  He  closed  by  reiterating  his  assertion 
that  he  had  not  changed. 

The  Whigs  were  pleased,  and  the  Democrats  were  corre 
spondingly  dejected.  They  wanted  to  hear  their  own  side  of 
"the  question  advocated, as  they  and  not  as  Senator  Tallmadge 
understood  it.  But  all  their  leading  citizens  were  absent. 
They  looked  about  them,  and  found  in  the  audience  Samuel 


14  THE   LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

J.  Tilden.  They  had  heard  him  speak  once  or  twice.  He 
was  a  young  man  and  looked  boyish.  But  he  had  gained  a 
reputation  among  his  neighbors  for  wisdom  beyond  his  years. 
The  sturdy  old  farmers  of  Columbia  County  felt  even  then 
that  in  him  they  had  a  safe  leader.  So  it  happened  that  by 
a  common  impulse  loud  calls  for  "  Tilden  "  went  up  from  all 
parts  of  the  assemblage.  The  Whigs,  amused  at  the  idea  of 
pitting  a  stripling  against  an  old  and  practised  debater,  ech 
oed  the  cry  of  "  Tilden  ! "  So  Mr.  Tilden  came  forward  and 
mounted  the  platform.  Mr.  Tallmadge  looked  with  undis 
guised  contempt  on  the  young  man  who  had  the  audacity  to 
attempt  an  off-hand  answer  to  the  prepared  speech  of  a  "United 
States  Senator.  But  the  Senator's  contempt  was  changed  to 
wonder,  if  not  to  admiration,  as  the  young  man  proceeded. 
Mr.  Tilden  opened  modestly  but  effectively.  He  showed  that 
easy  and  graceful  command  of  language  which  distinguishes 
him  to-day.  He  took  up  the  first  point  of  the  Senator's 
speech  and  argued  that  somebody  must  have  changed.  Was 
it  the  Democrats  ?  They  presented  the  same  candidates  for 
whom  the  people  had  voted  two  years  before  ;  they  put  forth 
the  same  principles,  with  the  same  exponents  of  those  princi 
ples,  and  they  met  the  same  opponents  that  they  had  met  in 
many  previous  contests.  Surely  it  was  not  they  who  had 
changed.  But  was  it  the  Whigs  who  had  changed  ?  "  Have 
you  changed,  venerable  sir  ? "  he  asked,  turning  suddenly 
upon  the  chairman  of  the  meeting.  "  You,  who  for  these  many 
years  have  stood  steadfast  in  your  devotion  to  the  doctrines 
of  Henry  Clay,  and  who  have  opposed  the  Democratic  party 
in  victory  and  defeat  ?  Or  have  you  changed  ?  "  he  asked, 
turning  to  another  old  Whig,  and  calling  him  by  name.  The 
effect  was  electrical.  The  Democrats  cheered  lustily,  and  the 
Whigs  appeared  troubled.  Having  thus  won  his  first  point, 
Mr.  Tilden  began  to  develop  his  power  of  argument.  His  ar 
ticles  of  the  previous  year  on  the  Independent  Treasury  bill 
had  made  him  quite  as  familiar  with  that  question  as  Senator 
Tallmadge  could  hope  to  be,  and  on  other  questions  he  showed 


EARLY  SUCCESSES  AS  A  POLITICAL   WRITER.  15 

almost  equal  skill  in  debate.  He  finished  with  a  fine  appeal 
to  the  Democrats  to  stand  by  their  candidates  and  their  prin 
ciples,  and  as  he  sat  down  three  hearty  cheers  were  given,  in 
which  many  of  the  Whigs  joined.  It  did  not  occur  to  any 
body  that  he  had  been  overmatched  in  the  debate. 


CHAPTER  HI. 

ME.    TILDEN   AND    THE   WOKKING-MEN. 1838. 

BEFORE  participating  in  the  debate  with  Senator  Tall- 
madge,  and  while  at  the  university  in  New  York,  Mr.  Tilden, 
during  the  same  year  (1838),  had  been  called  upon  to  do 
some  rather  important  work  in  behalf  of  the  Democratic 
party.  The  charter  election  in  the  city  in  the  spring  was 
generally  accepted  throughout  the  State  as  a  test  of  the  rela 
tive  strength  of  the  two  great  parties ;  and,  in  the  critical 
condition  of  affairs  which  followed  the  agitation  of  the  Inde 
pendent  Treasury  policy,  it  was  considered  desirable  that  the 
voters  of  the  metropolis,  and  particularly  the  laboring-classes, 
should  be  well  informed  of  the  national  issues  involved  in  the 
election.  Two  meetings  of  "  Democratic  Republican  Mechan 
ics  and  Working-men  "  were  accordingly  called  in  Tammany 
Hall,  one  on  the  6th  of  February,  and  the  other  on  the 
26th  of  February,  1838,  to  consider  the  financial  condition  of 
the  country,  and  to  take  action  thereon.  At  the  first  of 
these  meetings  a  long  series  of  resolutions  was  adopted  ;  at 
the  second  an  address  was  issued.  Both  papers  were  the  ex 
clusive  work  of  Mr.  Tilden,  and,  as  might  have  been  expected, 
were  enthusiastically  received.  Meetings  for  political  pur 
poses  are  never  over-critical,  and  the  supposed  labor  of  their 
accredited  committees  is  generally  cheered  ;  b-ut  that  these 
resolutions  and  this  address  should  bear  the  test  of  criticism, 
after  a  lapse  of  nearly  forty  years,  shows  that  they  were  not 
made  of  the  ordinary  campaign  material.  From  among  the 
resolutions  the  following  are  selected,  in  the  belief  that  they 
will  repay  perusal  now  : 


MR.   TILDEN  AND   THE   WORKING-MEN.  17 

8.  JResolved,  That  we  require  in  banking,  no  more  than  in  govern 
ment,  a  monarch  and  a  privileged  nobility  to  regulate  our  affairs ; 
that  an  application  to  finance  of  the  principle  of  EQUAL  LIBERTY, 
so  long  successfully  applied  by  the  American  people  to  politics,  is 
imperatively  required — a  liberty,  not  of  unlimited  license,  which  pos 
sessed  by  one  individual  would  destroy  the  liberty  of  every  other, 
but  of  a  character  which,  under  general  equal  laws,  extends  the 
largest  measure  of  freedom  and  enforces  the  most  perfect  security  to 
the  rights  of  all ;  that,  if  abuses  in  banking,  more  than  in  any.  other 
business,  affect  those  who  do  not  participate  in  them,  the  remedy  is 
not  in  a  wider  license  to  a  limited  number  of  individuals,  but  in  a 
more  effectual  restraint  upon  all :  not  in  exempting  banking  from  the 
competition  and  personal  responsibility  which  alone  prevent  intolerable 
abuses  in  other  kinds  of  business,  but  in  giving  greater  practical  effi 
ciency  to  these  natural  restraints,  and  in  exacting  additional  securities. 

4.  Itesolvcd,  That  a  general  banking  law,  constructed  on  these  ob 
vious  principles,  ought  to  be  enacted  ;  it  will  close  up  the  most  fruit 
ful  source  of  legislative  intrigue  and  corruption ;  it  will  prevent  the 
frauds  and  favoritism  practised  in  the  distribution  of  stock ;  it  will 
remove  a  monopoly,  which,  to  the  amount  of  the  extra  profit  it  con 
fers,  levies  an  indirect  tax  upon  the  unprivileged  mass,  for  the  bene 
fit  of  a  few,  uncompensated  by  any  public  advantage  ;  it  will  put  an 
end  to  arbitrary  and   unnatural   distributions  of  banking   capital; 
and  it  will  alleviate  these  fluctuations  in  the  currency  which  subvert 
contracts,  cause  a  general  insecurity  of  property,  render  uncertain  the 
wages  of  labor,  and  convert  the  pursuits  of  regular  industry  into  a 
pernicious  species  of  gambling. 

5.  Resolved,  That  the  measure  now  before  Congress,  for  effecting 
a  separation  of  the  Government  from  the  banks,  receives  our  entire 
and  cordial  approval ;  it  will  enable  the  Government  to  command 
with  certainty  its  revenues  amid  the  varying  exigencies  of  peace  and 
war  ;  it  will  prevent  a  combination  of  capitalists  from  "  shutting  up 
the  Treasury,"  in  order  to  advance  their  mercenary  schemes  through 
the  general  embarrassment  and  confusion  ;  it  will  diminish  Executive 
patronage  and  legislative  corruption,  by  disconnecting  the  Govern 
ment  from  powerful  moneyed  institutions,  having  the  strongest  in 
ducements  to  solicit  Executive  favor,  and  to  introduce  into  legislation 
"  influences  the  most  subtle,  founded  on  interests  the  most  selfish ;  " 
and  it  will  cause  the  ordinary  financial  action  of  the  Government  to 
exert  upon  the  currency  and  business  of  the  country  a  far  greater 


18  THE  LIFE  OF  SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

sanative  power  than  any  complicated  system  of  regulations  which 
has  ever  been  devised. 

The  address  was  more  elaborate  and  ambitious  than  were 
the  resolutions;  it  sets  forth  the  conflict  of  antagonistic  prin 
ciples  with  uncommon  vigor  and  clearness.  It  says  : 

Such  are  the  deductions  of  reason  ;  let  us  test  them  by  experience. 
For  fifty  vears  our  mint  establishment  has  been  conducted  on  this 
system;  and,  although  it  has  generally  involved  the  custody  of  as 
large  an  amount  as  need  be  deposited  in  any  one  sub-treasury,  not  a 
single  dollar  has  ever  been  lost.  Fellow-citizens,  we  appeal  to  your 
common-sense.  Tell  us,  are  their  own  officers  less  worthy  of  the 
confidence  of  the  people  than  the  agents  of  banks  ?  Cannot  the  Gov 
ernment,  regulating  the  public  funds  with  sole  reference  to  security, 
make  them  as  safe  as  banks,  wielding  them  for  the  purposes  of  gain? 
And  what  is  the  character  of  the  argument  by  which  these  common- 
sense  views  of  the  subject  are  opposed  ?  Exaggerated  accounts  of 
official  peculations  are  paraded  before  the  public  view,  and  for  what? 
As  arguments  in  favor  of  the  system  under  which  they  occurred,  and 
against  a  system  under  which  they  did  not  occur !  In  a  time  of 
peace,  and  with  a  large  surplus  revenue,  the  financial  operations  of 
the  Government  are  suddenly  suspended ;  an  extraordinary  convoca 
tion  of  Congress  is  rendered  necessary ;  the  Government,  unable  to 
command  a  dollar  of  its  own  resources,  is  compelled  to  borrow  money 
to  meet  its  current  expenses.  Under  such  circumstances  it  is  that 
the  delinquent  depositaries  of  your  revenue  tell  you  that  your  future 
collections  will  not  be  safe,  locked  in  your  own  vaults,  and  guarded 
by  your  own  officers,  but  must  be  intrusted  to  them  to  be  loaned  out 
to  traders  and  speculators !  We  will  not  argue  so  plain  a  case. 

An  extraordinary  concurrence  of  events  has  called  the  people  to 
decide  the  question  of  a  separation  of  the  financial  affairs  of  the 
Government  from  those  of  private  individuals  and  corporations. 
Such  a  separation,  considered  merely  as  a  measure  of  public  policy, 
has  our  cordial  and  earnest  approval.  We  entertain  the  firmest  con 
viction  that  it  will  increase  the  safety  of  the  public  moneys.  Govern 
ment  can  provide  vaults  as  strong,  and  can  find  officers  as  trust 
worthy,  as  those  of  banks ;  it  can  exact  securities  as  ample,  and  it  can 
enforce  an  accountability  to  itself  more  direct,  immediate,  and  effec 
tive.  In  a  change  of  system  the  loss  of  the  corporate  responsibility 


MR.   TILDEN  AND  THE  WORKING-MEN.  19 

of  banking  companies  is  more  than  compensated  by  an  exemption 
from  the  hazards  of  their  business  operations.  A  system  which  pro 
hibits  the  use  of  the  public  moneys  is  less  exposed  to  defalcation 
than  one  which,  allowing  their  use,  can  be  secure  only  in  their  suc 
cessful  employment ;  a  system  which  relies  on  fidelity  to  public  trust 
is  safer  than  one  which  relies  on  mere  pecuniary  responsibility ;  men 
are  less  ready  to  commit  a  felony  than  incur  a  debt. 

When  the  address  proceeds  to  discuss  the  general  ques 
tions  growing  out  of  the  Treasury  issue,  Mr.  Tilden-  shows 
himself  a  master  of  many  weapons.  He  says : 

The  histpry  of  every  nation  which  has  enjoyed  any  portion  of 
freedom  is  a  record  of  the  incessant  struggles  of  the  few  to  establish 
dominion  over  the  many.  In  the  earlier  ages  and  less  enlightened 
nations,  the  spirit  of  aristocracy  maintained  its  ascendency  by  brute 
force  or  through  superstition.  As  mankind  advanced  in  intelligence 
and  political  information,  it  assumed  a  form  more  adapted  to  the 
character  of  the  age.  Banding  together  the  rich  by  the  strong  liga 
ment  of  mutual  interest ;  arraying  them  in  an  organized  class  which 
acts  in  phalanx  and  operates  through  all  the  ramifications  in  society ; 
concentrating  property  by  monopolies  and  perpetuities,  and  binding 
to  it  political  power,  it  has  established  an  aristocracy  more  potent, 
more  permanent,  and  more  oppressive,  than  any  other  which  has  ever 
existed.  Such  is  the  dynasty  of  associated  and  privileged  wealth, 
which  at  this  moment  is  practically  the  ruling  power  in  nearly  every 
civilized  nation. 

The  effect  on  human  happiness  of  the  union  of  moneyed  and  politi 
cal  power  is  not  a  matter  of  conjecture.  The  condition  of  the  indus 
trious  masses  in  those  countries  in  which  it  exists  is  a  living  com 
mentary  on  the  system.  In  France,  the  suffrage  for  that  branch  of 
the  Government  which  pretends  to  be  popular  is  limited  by  a  prop 
erty  qualification,  so  high  as  to  exclude  all  but  the  richest  one  of 
every  two  hundred  individuals.  A  natural  result  of  legislation  so 
controlled  is  that,  of  a  population  of  thirty-two  millions,  seven  and  a 
half  are  forced  to  live  on  twenty  dollars,  and  twenty-three  millions 
on  less  than  thirty  dollars  a  year  each ;  while  all  the  rest  of  the  prod 
ucts  of  their  incessant  and  severe  toil  goes  to ,  enrich  the  privileged 
few. 

England  also  has  based  government  on  property.     Even  the  popu- 


20  THE   LIFE   OF  SAMUEL   J.  TILDEN. 

lar  branch  of  her  Legislature  is  wholly  controlled  by  the  moneyed  in 
terest.  The  wealthy  few  alone  are  eligible  to  the  House  of  Commons, 
or  possess  the'  elective  franchise ;  and  the  inequalities  in  the  repre 
sentations  and  the  influence  of  mighty  combinations  of  money  in 
the  elections  render  the  supremacy  of  wealth  complete  and  absolute. 
The  capitalists  and  landed  proprietors  wield  the  whole  political  power 
of  the  state  for  their  own  benefit.  Property  is  kept  in  large  masses 
in  the  hands  of  the  few,  by  the  law  of  primogeniture  and  the  system 
of  entails.  Monopolies  overspread  the  land,  paralyzing  individual 
effort,  and  exhausting  the  life-blood  of  the  body  politic.  The  burden 
of  the  gigantic  machinery  of  state,  the  Church  establishment,  a 
pauper  system,  and  the  national  debt,  crushes  the  laboring-classes,  on 
whom  exclusively  it  is  made  to  fall.  In  fine,  all  the  institutions  of 
the  country  and  the  whole  course  of  her  legislation  tend  to  transfer 
the  property  of  the  many  to  the  few ;  and  the  results  are,  on  the  one 
hand,  individuals  with  annual  incomes  of  a  million,  and  on  the  other 
the  mass  of  the  people  receiving  only  the  most  scanty  and  miserable 
subsistence,  and  a  fifteenth  of  them  supported  by  public  charity. 

A  tendency  to  a  union  of  political  and  moneyed  power  can  be  dis 
tinctly  recognized  in  the  politics  of  this  country.  It  has  characterized 
the  entire  policy  of  one  of  the  great  parties  which  have  divided  the 
republic  from  its  foundation.  In  the  convention  which  formed  our 
present  Constitution,  this  party  endeavored  to  give  to  our  Government 
an  aristocratic  bias.  Failing  to  accomplish  its  object  directly,  it  natu 
rally  sought  to  impress  that  character  upon  the  practical  administra 
tion  of  the  Government.  Its  leader,  Alexander  Hamilton,  who  had 
advocated  in  the  convention  a  President  and  a  Senate  for  life,  ori 
ginated  a  funding  system  and  a  national  bank.  The  obvious  tendency 
of  a  public  debt  to  array  the  rich,  whose  property  is  invested  in  it, 
in  support  of  the  Government.,  was  the  origin  of  the  Federal  heresy 
that  "a  national  debt  is  a  national  blessing;"  and  a  mammoth  bank 
was  a  nucleus,  around  which  to  concentrate  and  consolidate  the  money 
power,  and  an  appropriate  engine  to  wield  its  influence.  .  .  . 

Assiduous  efforts  are  making  to  terrify  the  public  mind  with  appre 
hensions  of  social  disorder,  to  represent  the  great  measure  of  reiorm 
which  is  now  presented  to  you  as  "  disorganizing,"  and  to  stigmatize 
its  supporters  as  "  destructives  "  and  "  agrarians."  We,  who  now 
address  you,  have  been  the  peculiar  objects  of  these  imputations  ;  we 
pause,  therefore,  for  a  moment  to  repel  them.  We  entertain  no  senti 
ments  adverse  to  social  order.  We  seek  not  to  destroy,  but  to  pre- 


MR.    TILDEN   AND   THE   WORKING-MEN.  21 

serve  in  their  purity,  the  institutions  of  our  country.  We  are  not  hos 
tile  to  trade,  or  its  legitimate  operations,  or  its  necessary  institutions. 
We  desire  to  introduce  into  banking  the  great  principle  of  equal  lib 
erty,  where  application  to  business  has,  in  every  instance,  produced 
the  most  beneficial  results.  We  seek  to  arrest  a  system  of  monopoly, 
special  legislation,  and  governmental  interference,  as  disastrous  to 
business  as  its  tendency  is  fatal  to  our  whole  social  and  political  fab 
ric.  We  do  not  assail  property ;  we  merely  deny  to  it  political  power. 
We  excite  no  prejudice  against  wealth  ;  we  merely  refuse  to  it  exclu 
sive  privileges,  either  in  business  or  in  politics.  We  claim  an  equality, 
not  of  social  conditions,  but  of  political  rights.  Our  motto  is,  equal 
protection  to  all,  special  favors  to  none.  These  are  our  sentiments. 
They  accord  with  the  immutable  principles  of  rectitude.  We  rely 
for  their  support  on  the  intelligent  judgment  of  our  countrymen. 

Nor  has  our  country  any  reason  to  fear  social  disorder.  Anarchy 
is  but  a  state  of  transition.  It  cannot  exist  as  a  permanent  condition 
of  things.  The  very  nature  of  man  renders  social  order  inevitable. 
Even  temporary  confusion  can  occur  only  as  a  consequence  to  a  pre 
vious  infringement  of  the  true  principles  of  society.  All  the  laws  of 
Nature  harmonize,  and  it  is  only  when  some  of  them  are  violated  that 
convulsion  ensues.  If  human  regulations  did  not  produce  artificial 
and  unjust  distributions  of  property,  a  state  of  things  could  never 
exist  in  which  property  would  be  endangered.  Where  the  avaricious 
few  have  so  controlled  legislation  as  to  concentrate  and  perpetuate 
property  in  themselves,  it  is  natural  that  they  should  seek  to  exclude 
from  political  power  all  who  have  no  "  stake  in  society,"  and  that 
they  should  regard  the  plundered  masses  as  hostile  to  such  "  rights 
of  property  "  and  such  a  "  social  order."  It  is  natural  that  they 
should  distrust  all  whose  sense  of  justice  is  not  subdued  by  a  partici 
pation  in  the  spoil,  and  that  they  should  tremble  for  their  iniquitous 
possessions  and  the  system  which  upholds  them.  But  where  society 
is  constructed  on  just  principles  such  apprehensions  are  visionary  and 
absurd.  Convulsion  is  the  struggle  of  Nature  with  disease  in  the  body 
politic,  and  can  never  occur  when  the  system  is  in  health.  Human 
experience  has  not  presented  a  solitary  exception  to  these  principles. 
The  masses  never  were  prone  to  disorder.  All  history  repels  the 
calumny.  Still  more  absurd  is  it  to  suppose  them  disloyal  to  our  pe 
culiar  institutions.  Our  social  system  is  the  only  one  which  has  ever 
secured  their  rights,  and  cannot  be  changed  except  at  their  expense. 
In  European  society  the  few  hold  the  state  ;  in  ours  the  many. 


22  THE   LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

The  real  danger  to  which  our  institutions  are  exposed  is  in  the 
abandonment  in  legislation,  of  the  principles  on  which  they  are 
founded.  And  we  ask  if  a  strong  tendency  of  this  character  has  not 
developed  itself  in  our  politics  ?  Has  not  the  whole  course  of  an  in 
fluential  party  aimed  at  a  union  of  political  with  moneyed  power  ?  Has 
not  that  party  sought  to  confine  the  elective  franchise  to  the  rich  ? 
Has  not  one  of  its  great  leaders  declared  that  "  Government  ought  to 
be  founded  on  property  ?  "  Has  it  not  at  a  general  meeting  in  this 
city  proclaimed  that  "the  possession  of  property  is  the  proof  of 
merit  ? "  Has  it  not  attempted  virtually  to  rob  the  working-classes 
of  the  right  of  suffrage,  by  driving  them  from  employment,  unless 
they  would  surrender  this  dearest  birthright  of  freemen  to  the  dicta 
tion  of  those  who  by  means  of  their  wealth  possess  an  accidental 
power  over  them  ?  And  is  it  not  now  struggling  to  enthrone  a  great 
moneyed  monopoly  in  absolute  dominion  over  the  currency  and  busi 
ness  of  the  country?  Ask  yourselves,  fellow- citizens,  if  the  establish 
ment  of  such  a  supremacy  be  not  a  giant  stride  in  a  career  fatal  to  our 
•institutions  ?  And,  if  you  yield  to  this  encroachment,  where  will  you 
pause  ?  Eesist,  then,  upon  the  threshold  the  attempt  to  depart  from 
the  principles  on  which  our  political  system  is  founded.  Adhere  to 
that  basis,  and  it  can  never  be  endangered. 

The  immediate  effect  of  this  address  was  noteworthy. 
It  armed  the  Democrats  in  the  city  with  a  clearer  argument 
than  they  had  before  possessed.  It  was  printed  in  full  in  the 
New  York  Evening  Post  and  other  Democratic  city  news 
papers  of  that  day,  and  was  copied  into  the  Albany  Argus 
and  the  Washington  Globe,  thus  gaining  a  circulation  not 
often  awarded  to  an  address  adopted  at  a  public  meeting. 
In  the  previous  year,  at  the  charter  election  of  1837,  under 
the  depressing  influence  of  hard  times,  the  city  had  under 
gone  a  political  revolution,  and  was  carried  by  the  Whigs  by 
a  majority  rising  above  three  thousand.  They  also  secured 
a  very  large  majority  in  both  branches  of  the  Common  Coun 
cil.  In  1838  the  hard  times  had  not  abated,  and,  by  charging 
upon  the  Democratic  administration  of  the  Federal  Govern 
ment  all  the  evils  from  which  the  people  suffered,  the  Whigs 
hoped  to  repeat  their  triumph  and  augment  their  strength. 
In  this  last  hope  they  were  disappointed.  They  carried  the 


MR.   TILDEN  AND  THE  WORKING-MEN.  23 

city,  but  their  majority  in  the  Common  Council  was  reduced 
to  one  ;  and,  after  a  spirited  struggle,  they  succeeded  in  re- 
electing  their  mayor,  Hon.  Aaron  Clark,  by  a  bare  majority 
of  ninety-nine.  It  was  the  working-men  who  effected  this 
change  in  the  vote  ;  and  it  was  Mr.  Tilden  who  furnished 
them  their  arguments. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE    CAMPAIGN    OF    1840 — ME.  TILDEN's    SPEECH    OX   FINANCE. 

AFTER  completing  his  academic  career,  Mr.  Tilden  marked 
out  for  himself  a  comprehensive  course  of  study  preparatory 
to  his  admission  to  the  bar.  He  pursued  this  course  faith 
fully,  but  leisurely.  He  not  only  held  his  place  as  student 
in  Judge  Edmonds's  office,  but  he  also  became  a  pupil  at  the 
law-school  of  the  New  York  University.  Among  the  lectur 
ers  of  that  institution  were  President  Van  Buren,  Attorney- 
General  Benjamin  F.  Butler,  of  New  York,  and  Judge  Wil 
liam  Kent.  Under  such  masters  of  the  law  he  laid  deep  the 
foundations  of  his  legal  fame. 

Meantime  he  devoted  a  good  share  of  his  attention  to 
politics.  The  memorable  presidential  canvass  of  1840  aroused 
his  deepest  interest.  He  was  a  warm  personal  friend  of  Mr. 
Van  Buren,  and,  what  was  of  more  importance,  he  was  a 
zealous  and  intelligent  supporter  of  the  President's  policy. 
Finding  the  man  and  the  policy  both  imperiled  by  wide 
spread  errors  and  persistent  misrepresentations  on  questions 
of  finance,  Mr.  Tilden  prepared  an  elaborate  speech  in  de 
fense  of  the  Democracy,  which  he  delivered  at  his  native 
town  of  New  Lebanon  on  the  evening  of  the  3d  of  October, 
1840. 

The  subject  of  the  speech  was  "  Currency,  Prices,  and 
Wages."  It  involved  such  a  patient  investigation  of  intri 
cate  points  that  it  seems  wonderful  that  any  man  could  have 
written  it  during  the  wild  excitement  that  prevailed  in  that 
particular  year.  The  youthful  champion  of  the  Democracy 
wasted  no  word  on  the  froth  of  the  campaign.  He  confined 


-THE   CAMPAIGN  OF   1840.  25 

himself  to  the  solid  and  serious  questions  which  divided  par 
ties.  .  He  took  issue  with  the  representative  leaders  of  Whig- 
gery — with  Webster  and  Clay — and  proved  himself,  at  the 
age  of  twenty-six,  a  foeman  worthy  of  their  steel. 

Some  parts  of  this  speech  are  as  interesting  to-day  as 
when  they  were  delivered.  The  following  history  of  the 
United  States  Bank  possesses  sufficient  historical  value  to 
warrant  its  reproduction  in  these  pages  : 

HOW    A   NATIONAL    BANK    REGULATED    THE    CURRENCY. 

How  could  a  large  bank,  constituted  on  essentially  the  same  prin 
ciples,  be  expected  to  regulate  beneficially  the  lesser  banks?  Has 
enlarged  power  been  found  to  be  less  liable  to  abuse  than  limited 
power?  Has  concentrated  power  been  found  less  liable  to  abuse 
than  distributed  power  ? 

If  any  entertained  an  exception  so  contrary  to  all  human  experi 
ence,  the  experience  ought  to  satisfy  them  of  its  fallacy. 

The  United  States  Bank  commenced  its  operations  in  January, 
1817.  Although  a  nominal  resumption  of  specie  payments  by  the 
State  banks  took  place,  the  currency  was  dangerously  extended.  The 
bank  urged  its  notes  into  circulation  with  unprecedented  rapidity ; 
and,  the  excess  causing  a  constant  exportation  of  specie,  it  sought  to 
counteract  that  effect,  not  by  reducing  the  currency  to  its  proper 
amount,  but  by  forced  importations  of  specie,  which  it  made  to  the 
extent  of  seven  millions,  and  at  a  great  loss.  It  continued  these 
operations  till  July,  1818,  when  its  circulation  amounted  to  nine 
millions  and  its  loans  to  forty-nine  millions.  A  revulsion  then  com 
menced,  and  the  bank  began  a  rapid  contraction.  But  its  affairs 
grew  every  day  worse.  In  February ^  1819,  Mr.  Jones,  its  president, 
resigned,  and  Mr.  Cheves,  of  South  Carolina,  was  appointed  in  his 
place.  In  an  exposition  made  several  years  after  to  the  stockhold 
ers,  that  gentleman  states  that,  as  he  was  about  to  commence  his 
journey  to  Philadelphia,  he  was  apprised  that  the  bank  would  soon 
be  obliged  to  stop  payment ;  and  when  he  "  reached  Washington  he 
received  hourly  proofs  of  the  probability  of  this  event ;  "  that  "  in 
Philadelphia  it  was  generally  expected."  He  also  states  that  on  the 
1st  of  April  the  specie  in  its  vaults  was  reduced  to  seventy -nine 
thousand  dollars,  while  its  balances  to  the  Philadelphia  banks  were 
one  hundred  and  twenty-six  thousand  dollars.  By  a  rigorous  contrac- 
2 


26  THE   LIFE   OF  SAMUEL   J.  TILDEX. 

tion  of  its  issues  and  the  cutting  off  of  all  its  exchange  business,  by 
the  whole  aid  of  the  Government  and  a  loan  in  Europe,  it  barely 
weathered  the  storm,  but  was  for  years  in  a  sickly  condition.  The 
prostration  of  business  and  prices  during  this  period  was  without  a 
parallel,  and  the  bank  was  universally  regarded  as  the  main  agent  of 
the  mischief.  The  reduction  of  the  whole  currency  from  the  height 
of  the  expansion  to  the  1st  of  January,  1820,  was  one-third;  that  of 
the  circulation  of  the  bank  was  nearly  two-thirds. 

The  next  great  crisis  was  in  the  fall  of  1825.  Mr.  Biddle,  in  his 
testimony  before  a  committee  of  Congress,  describes  it  as  "  the  most 
disastrous  period  in  the  financial  history  of  England,"  when  the  "  wild 
speculations  in  American  mines  and  wilder  speculations  in  American 
cotton  recoiled  upon  England,  and  spread  over  it  extensive  ruin," 
and  says,  that  "  the  very  same  storm  passed  over  this  country  a  few 
weeks  before,"  and  "  was  on  the  eve  of  producing  precisely  the  same 
results."  He  also  states  that  this  "panic,  which  would  have  been 
fatal  to  the  country,"  was  averted  by  his  hurrying  to  New  York  and 
prevailing  on  a  gentleman  to  accept  drafts,  "  who  was  preparing  to 
draw  specie  from  the  banks  of  Philadelphia  "  to  establish  a  bank  in 
New  Orleans.  It  has  been  intimated  that  Mr.  Biddle's  private  night- 
journey  was  occasioned  by  an  emergency  more  peculiar  to  his  own 
institution  than  he  would  have  the  public  suppose ;  but  he  admits 
enough.  He  shows  how  near,-  even  on  the  most  favorable  account  of 
the  matter,  the  whole  system  of  currency,  with  its  regulator,  came 
to  a  total  overthrow,  and  by  how  slight  and  common  a  circumstance 
it  was  alternately  jeoparded  and  saved.  Turn  now  from  the  account 
of  this  hair's-breadth  escape,  to  what  Mr.  Biddle  did  not  so  frankly  re 
late — the  source  of  the  peril.  The  returns  of  the  bank  show  that  its 
circulation  increased  in  the  two  years  previous  to  July,  1825,  more 
than  105  per  cent.,  and  in  the  six  months  previous  to  that  time  more 
than  57  per  cent. !  I  have  not  the  means  of  ascertaining  the  increase 
in  the  circulation  of  the  State  banks  during  this  period,  but  there  is 
abundant  reason  to  believe  that  it  was  in  nothing  like  the  same 
proportion.  The  subsequent  reduction  fell  mainly  upon  them,  the 
United  States  Bank  succeeding  in  substituting,  to  a  considerable  ex 
tent,  its  notes  for  theirs.  Its  success,  however,  in  the  competition 
for  private  profit  was  a  poor  consolation  to  the  public,  who  were 
victims  to  the  process.  Mr.  McCulloch  states  that,  during  the  same 
two  years,  the  country  banks  of  England  extended  their  circulation 
50  per  cent.,  and  he  exclaims  against  such  an  increase,  as  "  extrava- 


THE   CAMPAIGN   OF   1840.          .  27 

gant  and  unprincipled" — an 'increase  less  than  half  as  great  as  that 
of  our  " regulator!  " 

A  revulsion  rather  less  severe  occurred  in  the  commencement  of 
1832.  The  United  States  Bank  was  greatly  embarrassed.  It  pro 
cured  the '  payment  of  the  3  per  cents.,  for  which  the  Government 
had  provided  the  means,  to  be  postponed ;  and,  when  the  time  to 
which  it  had  been  postponed  approached,  it  sent  a  confidential  direc 
tor  abroad  to  make  an  arrangement  with  the  holders  of  the  stocks 
not  to  present  them  for  payment,  while  it  held  and  used  the  money 
Government  had  provided  for  their  redemption !  The  form  in  which 
the  transaction  was  first  attempted  the  bank  was  obliged  to  disavow, 
as  constituting  a  violation  of  its  charter,  that  in  which  it  was  con 
summated  being  merely  a  breach  of  trust !  The  increase  of  its  circu 
lation  during  the  two  years  previous  to  the  1st  of  January,  1832,  was 
64  per  cent.,  and  its  reduction  the  summer  after  about  20  per  cent. 
The  circulation  of  the  New  York  banks  increased  during  the  same 
period  29  per  cent. ;  that  of  the  Pennsylvania 'banks  from  February, 
1829,  to  November,  1831,  about  21  per  cent.  It  is  difficult  to  procure 
returns  from  the  banks  sufficiently  near  the  dates  to  afford  a  just 
comparison,  but  such  as  are  procured  show  that  the  average  increase, 
even  if  it  were  larger  than  that  of  the  New  York  banks,  was  very  far 
short  of  that  of  the  United  States  Bank. 

In  the  fall  of  1833  the  removal  of  the  deposits  was  made,  and  the 
panic  of  1834  followed.  The  bank,  by  October,  1834,  had  contracted 
its  circulation  nearly  20  per  cent.,  and  its  loans  more  than  fourteen 
millions,  as  it  alleged,  in  consequence  of  that  measure.  When  its 
attempt  to  coerce  a  restoration  of  the  deposits  and  a  renewal  of  its 
charter  failed,  it  commenced  an  expansion;  and  by  July,  1835,  ex 
tended  its  circulation  62  per  cent.,  and  its  loans  nineteen  millions,  or 
five  millions  more  than  all  the  reduction  which  it  pretended  it  had 
been  forced  to  make  by  the  removal  of  the  deposits ;  and  that,  when 
its  charter  had  but  eight  months  longer  to  run !  The  great  expansion 
which  produced  the  disastrous  excesses  of  1835  and  1836  occurred 
mainly  in  the  former  year;  and  the  whole  enlargement  of  the  "cur 
rency  during  that  year  was  34  per  cent.,  or,  if  we  take  the  net  circu 
lation,  31  per  cent. ;  and,  during  that  year  and  the  next,  less  than  44 
per  cent.,  and,  if  we  take  the  net  circulation,  36  per  cent.  The  ratio 
of  expansion  of  its  net  circulation  by  the  United  States  Bank  to 
July,  1835,  was  from  November,  1834,  62  per  cent.;  from  January,' 
1635,  when  the  currency  had  reached  at  least  a  level,  46  per  cent. ; 


28  THE  LIFE   OF  SAMUEL   J.  TILDEN. 

and  from  its  last  return  previous  to  the  removal  of  the  deposits,  37 
per  cent.  The  bank  is  justly  responsible  for  the  whole  amount  of  its 
expansion  from  the  lowest  point  of  contraction  in  1834  ;  for  it  had 
made  that  contraction  under  the  pretense  that  such  a  diminution  of 
its  business  was  rendered  necessary  by  the  removal  of  the  deposits ; 
and  the  vacuum  in  the  circulation  being  created  under  favorable  ex 
changes,  was  necessarily  filled  by  the  notes  of  other  institutions,  and 
the  subsequent  addition  to  the  currency  was  as  inexcusable  as  it  was 
dangerous.  Such  an  addition  could  not  fail  to  create  a  most  injuri 
ous  excitement  in  banking  and  trade,  and,  with  a  tithe  of  the  power 
which  its  friends  claimed  for  this  bank  over  the  smaller  institutions, 
to  stimulate  them  to  the  utmost  extravagance.  And,  when  the  time 
of  this  expansion  is  considered,  no  fair-minded  man  can  doubt  that  it 
communicated  the  main  impulse  to  the  disastrous  excesses  which  'fol 
lowed. 

"We  have  thus  seen  this  institution,  which  was  established  to 
"  regulate  "  the  others,  twice,  according  to  the  statements  of  its  own 
presidents,  on  the  very  verge  of  bankruptcy,  and  a  third  time  extri 
cating  itself  from  its  embarrassments  by  a  breach  of  trust  which 
would  subject  an  individual  to  a  criminal  punishment ;  and,  looking 
at  its  returns,  we  find  each  of  these  occasions  preceded  by  an  exten 
sion  of  its  business,  unparalleled  in  any  similar  institution.  We  have 
seen  that,  in  every  great  expansion  of  the  currency  which  has  occurred 
during  the  whole  period  of  its  existence,  it  increased  its  circulation 
in  a  far  larger  ratio  than  the  expansion  of  the  whole  currency.  And 
these  successive  expansions,  and  the  revulsions  which  followed  them 
with  short  intervening  seasons  of  quietude,  have  filled  the  whole  his 
tory  of  business  during  that  period.  The  extraordinary  powers  of 
this  bank  and  its  freedom  from  competition,  while  organized  on  the 
same  principles  and  therefore  subject  to  the  same  impulses  as  other 
institutions,  have  only  encouraged  it  to  embark  on  the  most  hazard 
ous  adventures  to  extend  the  profits  of  its  business ;  from  which  it 
has  been  repeatedly  extricated  only  by  the  credit  of  the  Government 
or  the  direct  assistance  of  the  Treasury. 

Such  was  the  manner  in  which  the  United  States  Bank  "  regu 
lated  "  the  currency  while  it  was  a  national  institution.  For  the 
benefit  of  those  who  think  the  loss  of  such  services  the  cause  of  the 
recent  commercial  disorders,  and  their  restoration  by  the  establish 
ment  of  a  similar  institution  the  sovereign  panacea,  I  pursue  its  sub 
sequent  history. 


THE   CAMPAIGN   OF   1840.  29 

On  the  20th  of  Febuary,  1836,  Mr.  Biddle  presented  a  meeting  of 
the  stockholders  with  the  new  charter  from  the  State  of  Pennsylva 
nia,  congratulating  them  on  the  dissolution  of  their  connection  with 
the  General  Government,  which  he  pronounced  to  he  an  unnatural 
connection,  beneficial  neither  to  "  the  Bank  nor  the  Government,"  and 
declaring  that  the  hank  was  now  "SAFER,  STRONGER,  and  more  pros 
perous,  than  it  ever  was." 

On  the  llth  of  November,  1836,  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Adams,  Mr. 
Biddle  declared  that  the  revulsion  which  had  then  become  severe  was 
owing  to  the  "  mere  mismanagement "  of  the  Government ;  denied 
that  "  the  country  has  overtraded — that  the  banks  have  over-issued, 
and  that  the  purchasers  of  public  lands  have  been  very  extravagant;" 
and  concluded  his  long  argument  to  sustain  these  positions  thus  tri 
umphantly  :  "  Exchange  with  all  the  world  is  in  favor  of  New  York. 
How,  then,  can  New  York  be  an  overtrader  ?  Her  merchants  have 
sold  goods  to  the  merchants  of  the  interior,  who  are  willing  to  pay, 
and,  under  ordinary  circumstances,  able  to  pay,  but,  ly  the  mere  fault 
of  the  Government  as  obvious  as  if  an  earthquake  had  swallowed  them 
up,  their  debtors  are  disabled  from  making  immediate  payment.  IT  is 

NOT  THAT  THE  ATLANTIC  MERCHANTS    HAVE  SOLD  TOO  MANY  GOODS,  l)Ut 

that  the  Government  prevents  their  receiving  pay  for  any." 

And  this  in  the  face  of  sales  of  public  lands  during  that  year  to 
the  amount  of  twenty-four  millions  of  dollars,  an<l  an  excess  of  im 
ports  over  exports  of  sixty-one  millions!  But  even  this  great  finan 
cier,  who  was  competent  of  himself  to  regulate  all  the  business  of 
the  country,  could,  at  last,  be  made  to  learn  what  every  man  of  com 
mon-sense  had  known  long  before. 

On  May  13,  1837,  two  days  after  his  bank  had  suspended,  in  a 
second  letter  to  Mr.  Adams,  Mr.  Biddle  said :  "  We  owe  a  debt  to 
foreigners  by  no  means  large  for  our  resources,  but  disproportioned 
to  our  present  means  of  payment.  We  have  worn,  and  eaten,  and 
'drunk,  the  produce  of  their  industry — too  much  of  all,  perhaps,  ~but 
that  is  our  fault,  not  theirs."  Ko  doubt !  But  when  had  we  done 
so  ?  Even  Mr.  Biddle  would  not  say  that  it  was  after  the  writing  of 
his  previous  letter. 

He  also  said  that,  "had  the  bank  consulted  merely  its  own 
strength,  it  would  have  continued  its  payments  without  reserve." 
Certainly !  He  suspended  for  the  sake  of  the  other  banks,  just  as  he 
made  his  night-journey  in  1825,  and  his  fraudulent  arrangement  as 
to  the  three  per  cents,  in  1832,  for  their  sake.  These  facts  all  rest 


30  THE   LIFE   OF  SAMUEL   J.  TILDEN. 

upon  the  same  testimony !     He  promised  also  to  "  take  the  lead  in  an 
early  resumption  of  specie  payments." 

In  the  fall  of  1837,  when  a  convention  was  proposed  to  bring 
about  a  general  resumption,  the  United  States  Bank  at  first  refused  to 
join  in  it ;  and  afterward  sent  delegates,  who  opposed  resumption, 
and  succeeded  in  voting  down  the  measure  through  its  associates  and 
dependents.  And  when  the  New  York  banks  were  about  to  resume 
alone,  on  April  5,  1838,  in  a  third  letter  to  Mr.  Adams,  Mr.  Biddle 
argued  at  great  length  that  the  resumption  then  was  "premature," 
threatening  them  in  an  insolent  tone  with  the  consequences  of  the 
attempt,  and  told  them  to  appeal  to  the  Legislature  "to  rectify  their 
mistake,"  and  legalize  a  further  suspension !  The  New  York  banks 
resumed  about  the  1st  of  May,  but  the  United  States  Bank  remained 
suspended  until  the  latter  part  of  the  year,  when  it  nominally  re 
sumed  by  substituting  post-notes  for  its  ordinary  circulation ;  or,  in 
other  words,  notes  bearing  on  their  face  a  promise  of  payment  a 
year  after  date  for  notes  bearing  on  their  face  a  promise  of  payment 
on  demand. 

In  the  spring  of  1839  Mr.  Biddle  resigned  the  presidency  of  the 
bank,  announcing  that,  having  brought  it  safely  through  all  the  diffi 
culties,  and  leaving  it  in  a  sound  and  prosperous  condition,  he  could 
now  retire  from  its  management.  Through  the  summer  it  struggled 
with  the  embarrassments  daily  thickening  upon  it,  and  in  October  it 
failed,  inflicting  upon  the  commercial  affairs  of  the  country  the  ex 
tensive  mischief  under  which  they  have  been  suffering  for  the  year 
past,  but  from  which,  thanks  to  the  beneficent  regulation  of  the  laws 
of  trade,  they  are  now  rapidly  recovering. 

The  speech  contains  one  error  in  political  economy,  viz., 
that  prices  are  governed  by  the  volume  of  the  currency  ;  but, 
although  this  is  laid  down  as  a  principle,  there  are  passages 
in  the  speech  which  indicate  that  even  then  some  doubt  of 
its  truth  was  forming  in  Mr.  Tilden's  mind.  It  remained  for 
him  in  his  last  annual  message  to  the  Legislature  of  New- 
York  to  refute  the  fallacy  which  he  had  once  entertained,  and 
which  is  still  accepted  by  many  would-be  teachers  of  finance. 

In  reproducing  that  portion  of  the  speech  which  deals 
with  the  wages  of  labor,  it  is  proper  to  say  that  allowance 
should  be  made  for  the  marked  changes  which  have  taken 


THE   CAMPAIGN  OF  1840.  31 

place   in  many  foreign  countries   during  the  past  thirty-six 
years. 

THE   WAGES    OF    LABOE. 

"Wages  are  estimated  in  two  modes — the  one  in  money,  when  they 
are  called  money  or  nominal  wages ;  and  the  other  by  the  amount  ot 
the  necessaries  and  comforts  of  life  which  they  will  purchase,  when 
they  are  called  real  wages. 

FLUCTUATION"    IN  ^MONET-WAGES     INJUEIOUS     TO     THE     MECHANIC      AND 
*  LABOEEB. 

Fluctuations  in  the  currency  produce  the  same  fluctuations  in 
money-wages  as  in  money-prices.  They  subject  the  mechanic  and 
the  laborer  to  the  same  uncertainty,  miscalculation  and  disappoint 
ment  in  business,  that  fluctuations  in  prices  do  the  farmer,  the  mer 
chant,  and  the  manufacturer.  Not  only  this.  Wages  do  not  always 
rise  and  fall  in  exact  proportion  to  prices ;  and  it  usually  happens 
that,  when  prices  are  high,  the  mechanic  and  the  laborer  find  their 
command  over  the  means  of  subsistence  diminished ;  and  that,  when 
prices  are  low,  they  are  often,  especially  if  congregated  in  large  estab 
lishments,  deprived  of  their  accustomed  employment.  On  the  whole, 
then,  they  suffer  more  by  the  vicissitudes  in  the  currency  and  business 
than  any  other  class,  and  have,  consequently,  a  greater  interest  than 
any  other  in  the  establishment  of  a  stable  currency.  I  have  already 
sufficiently  shown  that  the  measures  before  the  country,  advocated 
by  either  party,  cannot  perceptibly  increase  or  diminish  the  perma 
nent  amount  of  the  currency  or  the  average  of  prices,  but  only  make 
both  the  currency  and  prices  fluctuate  more  or  less ;  and  I  trust  that 
I  have  also  shown  that  the  tendency  of  the  Democratic  measures  is  to 
diminish,  and  that  of  the  Whig  measures  to  increase,  these  fluctuations. 
The  general  principle  applies  equally  to  prices  and  wages. 

ALL    PEODUCEE-S    INTERESTED    IN    EEAL    WAGES. 

I  design  to  consider  the  subject  of  wages  in  its  widest  sense  as 
the  remuneration  of  labor.  For  that  purpose  I  shall  take  real  wages, 
or  wages  estimated  by  the  amount  of  necessaries  and  comforts  which 
they  will  purchase,  as  the  true  standard ;  and  I  shall  regard  every 
industrious  man  of  whatever  calling  as  a  recipient  of  wages. 

The  farmer  receives  wages.  After  he  has  deducted  from  his  gross 
income  the  expenses  of  his  farm,  excluding  his  own  and  his  family's 


32  THE   LIFE   OF   SAMUEL   J.  TILDEN. 

support,  the  residue  is  divided  into  two  parts  :  the  first,  profits  on  the 
capital  invested  in  his  farm,  stock,  and  utensils ;  and  the  second,  wages 
for  his  personal  labor,  skill,  and  responsibility  in  their  management. 
Allowing  for  the  low  rate  of  profits  which  attends  desirable  invest 
ments,  and  the  high  rate  of  wages  which  attends  the  exercise  of  skill 
and  responsibility,  as  well  as  mere  labor,  and  regarding  the  fact  that 
farms  are  mainly  worked  by  their  owners  and  their  families,  it  can 
not  be  doubted  that  far  the  larger  share  of  all  the  farmer  receives  and 
applies  to  the  support  of  himself  and  his  family,  or  accumulates,  is  in 
the  nature  of  wages.  The  mechanic  lives  mainly,  and  the  laborer  ex 
clusively,  upon  wages.  It  is  unnecessary,  however,  further  to  dis 
tinguish  the  two  parts  which  make  up  the  net  income  of  the  indus 
trious  classes;  for  both  parts  are  in  practice  affected  alike  by  the 
general  laws  to  which  I  am  about  to  refer.  This  net  income  of  the 
producers,  or  the  amount  of  value  which  can  be  applied  to  the  pur 
poses  of  support  and  accumulation,  is  evidently  the  real  test  of  their 
prosperity. 

CIRCUMSTANCES  WHICH   DETEEMINE   THE   EEMUNEEATION   OF   LABOB. 

I  now  proceed-  to  inquire  into  the  circumstances  which  affect  the 
remuneration  of  industry  in  different  countries.  Suppose  that  two 
communities  exist,  each  composed  of  the  same  number  of  laborers ; 
and  that  one  of  these  communities,  by  greater  industry,  superior 
skill,  or  better  implements,  should  produce  twice  as  much  as  the 
other  of  the  necessaries  and  comforts  of  life.  If  an  equal  division 
of  the  products  of  each  community  among  its  members  were  made, 
an  individual  in  the  first  would  receive  twice  as  much  in  remunera 
tion  of  his  labor  as  an  individual  in  the  second  community ;  in  other 
words,  his  real  wages  would  be  twice  as  large.  This  would  be  equally 
the  case,  whether  all  the  individuals  in  these  communities  were  la 
borers,  or  whether  they  united  the  characters  of  capitalist  and  laborer, 
or  whether  they  were  divided  into  separate  classes  of  employers  and 
workmen.  For,  under  free  and  equal  laws,  the  division  between 
these  classes  of  the  whole  proceeds  of  industry  would  be  equitably 
adjusted,  and  the  positive  amount  received  by  the  laborer  would  de 
pend  upon  the  amount  to  be  divided ;  or,  in  other  words,  the  real 
wages  of  labor  would  depend  upon  its  productiveness.  And  the 
actual  rate  of  real  wages  in  every  country  does  in  fact  depend  upon 
the  productiveness  of  its  industry,  except  so  far  as  the  whole  pro- 


THE   CAMPAIGN   OF  1840.  33 

ceeds  are  diminished  by  the  consumption  of  the  Government,  or 
changed  from  their  natural  distribution  by  unequal  legislation. 

The  connection  between  the  remuneration  and  the  productiveness 
of  labor  is  everywhere  obvious.  The  return  of  agricultural  produce,  ac 
cording  to  Baron  Ilumboldt,  is  in  Germany,  where  wages  are  low,  not 
over  fourfold  the  seed ;  and  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  it  is  not  more 
in  the  larger  part  of  Europe.  The  produce  of  wheat  in  the  principal 
grain-exporting  regions  near  Odessa  and  the  Baltic  does  not  exceed 
three*  or  four  times  the  seed  ;  and  the  labor  of  a  man  will  not  obtain 
one-eighth  the  quantity  it  would  in  Illinois.  Arthur  Young  said  that  ag 
ricultural  labor  in  England  at  double  price  was  cheaper  than  in  Ireland. 
It  was  stated  in  evidence  before  the  factory  commission  in  England 
that,  although  labor  is  twice  as  high  in  the  English  factories  as  in 
those  of  many  other  parts  of  Europe,  it  accomplishes  more  than  twice 
as  much,  and,  if  measured  by  that  standard,  is  really  cheaper ;  and 
the  fact  has  been  repeatedly  verified.  The  United  States  fear  the 
competition,  not  of  India,  where  labor  is  lowest,  but  of  England, 
where  it  is  next  highest  to  our  own.  England  fears  most  the  com 
petition  of  this  country,  where  labor  is  the  highest  in  the  world. 

The  principal  causes  connected  with  political  institutions  which 
affect  the  productiveness  of  industry  are  :  first,  security  of  property ; 
and,  secondly,  freedom  of  industry. 

Security  of  property,  in  its  most  comprehensive  and  just  sense, 
includes  not  only  security  to  the  capitalist  in  the  possession  of  prop 
erty  rightfully  acquired,  but  also  security  to  the  laborer  in  the  imme 
diate  results  of  his  toil.  The  motive  to  labor  is  the  enjoyment  of 
its  fruits,  and  just  in  proportion  as  the  prospect  of  that  enjoyment  is 
increased  or  diminished  will  the  motive  be  strengthened  or  weak 
ened  and  industry  flourish  or  languish.  Insecurity,  whether  pro 
ceeding  from  open  violence,  from  oppressive  taxation,  or  from  un 
equal  legislation,  exerts  a  deleterious  influence  upon  industry.  It  di 
minishes  the  tendency  of  capital  to  increase  and  invest  itself  in  labor- 
saving  machinery  and  works  of  public  utility,  and  it  lessens  the  dili 
gence  and  efficiency  of  labor. 

In  India  and  Turkey,  and  most  despotic  countries,  insecurity  of 
person  and  property  exists  in  every  form  and  to  an  aggravated  ex 
tent.  Even  in  France,  the  people,  until  recently,  have  been  so  sub 
ject  to  invasions  and  civil  dissensions  that  private  capital  does  not 
hazard  investment  in  mills,  bridges,  canals,  or  railroads,  which  would 
have  been  exposed  by  such  events  to  destruction ;  the  peasantry  live 


34  THE   LIFE   OF   SAMUEL    J.  TILDEN. 

grouped  in  villages,  compelled  to  go  daily  several  miles  to  their  little 
patches  of  land,  and  to  raise  their  heaviest  crops  on  the  nearest  land 
to  save  the  expense  of  transportation,  and  after  all  subjected  to  great 
expense  in  cultivation ;  taxation  is  heavy,  and  unequal  legislation 
prevails.  In  England  the  capitalist  is  secure  ;  but  the  earnings  of  the 
laborer  are  largely  consumed  by  taxation,  or  transferred  to  the  privi 
leged  classes.  I  was  recently  told  by  an  intelligent  English  manu 
facturer  that  most  of  the  operatives  were  improvident  and  reckless. 
How  should  it  be  otherwise?  "What  rational  hope  have  they  of  per 
manently  improving  their  situation  ?  All  experience  has  proved  that 
the  goad  of  necessity  will  not  make  the  laborer  diligent  or  efficient 
as  the  hope  of  bettering  his  condition. 

Freedom  of  industry  is  indispensable  to  the  productiveness  of 
labor.  If  no  artificial  obstacle  exists,  every  man  will  naturally  devote 
himself  to  the  kind  of  business  to  which  .he  is  most  adapted,  and 
which  will  therefore  be  most  profitable  to  himself,  and  the  largest 
possible  amount  will  thus  be  produced.  Every  restriction  on  business 
and  every  monopoly  tends  directly  to  force  a  misapplication  of  labor, 
and  thus  to  lessen  its  productiveness.  In  most  countries,  scarcely 
any  business  can  be  engaged  in  without  a  long  apprenticeship  or  a 
special  license  ;  or  prosecuted  except  under  a  multitude  of  restrictions 
which  frequently  interpose  an  absolute  barrier  to  improvement.  Ex 
clusive  privileges  to  follow  particular  trades  or  branches  of  mechani 
cal  or  manufacturing  or  other  business  abound.  The  prices  of  mo 
nopolized  products  are  invariably  enhanced  ;  and,  while  a  part  of  the 
difference  goes  to  increase  the  profits  of  the  monopolist,  the  rest  is 
totally  lost  in  ttie  misapplication  of  labor,  or  in  the  diminished  econ 
omy  which  exemption  from  competition  always  occasions. 

I  have  already  remarked  that  the  actual  remuneration  of  labor  in 
a  country  does  not  depend  exclusively  upon  its  productiveness,  but 
is  also  affected  by  taxation  and  unequal  legislation.  Taxation  not 
only  discourages  production,  but  it  consumes  a  portion  of  what  is 
produced,  and,  if,  as  in  most  countries,  it  is  unequally  imposed,  it 
diminishes  still  more  the  share  assigned  to  the  laborers.  Unequal 
legislation,  monopolies,  and  exclusive  privileges  of  every  description, 
not  only  lessen  production,  but  alter  the  distribution  of  what  is  pro 
duced,  invariably  to  the  injury  of  the  laboring-classes.  These  causes 
and  those  which  have  been  already  referred  to,  will,  I  believe,  satis 
factorily  account  for  the  difference  in  the  reward  of  labor  and  in  the 
condition  of  the  industrious  masses  im  various  countries.  I  shall  con- 


THE   CAMPAIGN   OF  1840.  35 

fine  my  illustrations  to  a  single  instance ;  and  I  select  ^England,  be 
cause  the  evils  to  which.  I  have  alluded  exist  there  in  a  less  degree 
than  in  most  countries,  and  especially  because  the  system  of  policy 
which  a  powerful  interest  is  now  seeking  to  fasten  upon  this  coun 
try  is  derived  from  her,  and  its  tendencies  are  best  exemplified  in 
her  condition. 

EXAMPLE    OF    ENGLAND. 

In  England,  restrictions  upon  the  freedom  of  industry  and  mo 
nopolies  are  very  numerous.  The  exchange  of  domestic  productions 
is  embarrassed  by  excise,  and  the  regulations  prescribed  to  secure 
the  revenue  from  evasion  frequently  prevent  improvements  in  manu 
facture.  But  I  pass  over  the  minor  monopolies  which  exist  more  or 
less  in-  all  kinds  of  business,  to  a  few  of  a  general  and  important  char 
acter.  The  corn  laws  impose  an  annual  tax  upon  the  country  esti 
mated  by  high  authorities  to  be  at  least  one  hundred  and  twenty  mill 
ion  dollars,  one-fourth  of  which  is  supposed  to  enhance  the  profits 
of  the  great  landed  capitalists,  while  the  other  three-fourths  are  lost 
in  forcing  the  cultivation  of  grain  upon  soils  fit,  at  best,  only  for 
pasturage.  And  this  tax,  being  laid  upon  an  article  of  necessity 
which  is  consumed  in  nearly  an  equal  proportion  by  the  poor  and 
rich,  operates  as  a  capitation  tax,  and  its  burden  falls  mainly  upon 
the  laboring-classes.  The  other  monopolies  of  articles  of  food  and 
necessity  are  estimated  by  the  Westminster  Review  to  impose  a  tax, 
falling  also  upon  the  same  classes,  of  seventy  million  dollars,  and 
that  of  the  products  of  the  colonies  thirty  millions.  The  -annual  cost 
of  the  established  Church,  to  which  three-fifths  of  the  people  are  dis 
senters,  is  forty  millions,  and  that  of  the  pauper  system  is  thirty -Jive 
millions.  The  annual  charge  for  th,e  national  debt  is  one  hundred 
and  forty  millions,  and  that  for  the  ordinary  expenditures  of  the  Gov 
ernment  one  hundred  and  ten  millions.  These  two  hundred  and  fifty 
millions  "  the  makers  of  the  laws  have  contrived  "  to  assess,  says  Sir 
Henry  Pownell,  "first  by  the^ .selection  of  the  taxes  imposed,  and 
secondly  by  the  selection  of  taxes  repealed,"  so  that  only  thirty  mill 
ions  of  it  falls  upon  the  landlords,  while  the  remaining  two  hundred 
and  twenty  millions  falls  upon  the  industrious  classes.  The  aggre 
gate  of  the  items  which  I  have  enumerated  is  an  annual  burden  upon 
the  labor  of  England  of  Jive  hundred  and  forty-five  million  dollars, 
and  most  of  which  is  taken  directly  from  that  portion  of  the  pro 
ceeds  of  industry  which  is  assigned  to  the  laborers  as  the  reward  of 
their  toil.  * 


36  THE   LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

Mr.  Pitt  said,  years  ago,  that  u  three-fifths  of  the  price  of  lahor 
is  said  to  come  into  the  Exchequer.  Mr.  Bulwer  has  recently  esti 
mated  that  "  every  working-man  is  taxed  to  the  amount  of  one-third 
of  his  wages."  The  monopolies  have  the  same  influence  as  taxa 
tion,  and  must  still  further  reduce  the  amount  finally  left  to  the 
laborer  of  his  own  earnings.  The  whole  effect  of  either  is  not  ex 
hibited  by  the  money-price  of  labor,  nor  until  the  laborer  purchases 
with  his  wages  the  means  of  subsistence  at  enhanced  prices. 

Is  it  wonderful  that  the  laboring-classes  of  England  are  plunged 
in  poverty  and  wretchedness,  and  that,  when  under  the  vibrations  of 
a  monopoly  banking  system,  deprived  of  their  accustomed  pittance, 
they  are  subjected  to  absolute  starvation  ?  Is  it  wonderful  that,  ac 
cording  to  the  Foreign  Quarterly  Review,  one-sixth  of  the  whole  popu 
lation  are  paupers  ? 

ME.    WEBSTER   ON    WAGES. 

Mr.  Webster,  in  a  recent  speech,  narrates  at  length  his  observa 
tions  in  England,  as  to  the  wages  of  labor,  and  argues  that  the  Inde 
pendent  Treasury  will  reduce  wages  in  this  country  to  the  same  con 
dition. 

He  is  equally  unfortunate  in  his  reasonings  and  in  his  illustrations. 
Is  he  so  ignorant  of  the  first  principles  of  the  science  of  currency  as 
to  suppose  that  the  Independent  Treasury  can  alter  in  the  least  the 
average  amount  of  the  whole  currency,  or  affect  it  at  all,  further 
than  to  substitute  specie  for  paper  in  the  small  part  of  it  used  in 
Government  transactions  ?  Does  he  not  know  that  the  whole  system 
of  a  currency  such  as  ours  rests  upon  the  principle  that  it  cannot 
permanently  vary,  in  its  amount,  from  the  specie  which  would  have 
circulated  if  it  had  not  been  displaced  by  paper  ?  and  that  a  specie 
currency  differs  from  a  paper  currency  not  in  its  average  amount,  but 
only  in  its  comparative  steadiness  and  uniformity  ?  that  if  we  had  a 
specie  currency,  of  which  there  is  not  the  least  possible  danger,  the 
average  price  of  labor  would  be  the  same  as  under  a  paper  currency  ? 

Mr.  Webster  talks  of  the  evil  of  a  contracted  currency.  Does  he 
think  that  a  metallic  currency  is  necessarily  small  ?  Is  he  not  aware 
that  the  specie  currency  of  France  is  twice  as  large,  in  proportion 
to  population,  as  ours  of  paper  and  specie  both  ?  that  her  low  wages 
depend  upon  entirely  different  causes  from  a  scanty  currency  ? 

In  referring  to  the  effect  of  a  specie  currency  on  wages,  is  he  un- 
?nf ormed  of  facts  as  well  as  of  principles  ?  Does  he  not  know  that 


THE   CAMPAIGN   OF  1840.  37 

the  condition  of  laborers  in  Russia— where  the  currency  is  nearly  all 
paper — is  worse  than  in  almost  any  other  country  in  Europe  ?  that 
in  Austria — where  the  currency  is  half  paper — their  condition  is 
worse  and  their  wages  lower  than  in  France?  that  in  Cuba — to 
which  he  specially  refers  and  where  the  currency  is  all  specie — wages 
are  very  high  ?  Does  he  not  know  that,  in  the  countries  which  hap 
pen  to  have  both,  the  low  wages  are  no  more  owing  to  the  specie 
currency  than  to  the  fertile  soil  or  genial  climate  which  some  of  them 
have  also,  but  which  oppression  has  rendered  unavailing  ?  In  the 
inquiries  which  he  tells  us  he  made  while  in  Europe,  into  the  condi 
tion  of  the  laboring-classes,  did  he  not  learn,  as  the  cause  of  their 
degradation,  that  they  are  misgoverned  ?  Did  he  not  find  that,  even 
in  the  least  misgoverned  countries,  the  burden  upon  labor  of  public 
debts,  taxation,  and  monopolies,  by  consuming  its  earnings  and  les 
sening  production,  exceeds  every  year  twice  the  whole  amount  of 
their  currencies,  whether  paper  or  specie,  and  fifty  times  the  annual 
interest  of  that  amount  ? 

Mr.  Webster  takes  all  his  illustrations  from  the  condition  of 
the  laborers  of  England.  What  has  that  to  do  with  the  measufes 
whose  effects  he  is  endeavoring  to  show  ?  Has  England  an  Indepen 
dent  Treasury,  or  even  a  specie  currency  ?  On  the  contrary,  has  she 
not  that  very  union  of  the  Government  with  a  central  bank  which 
Mr.  Webster  seeks  to  bring  about  in  this  country  ?  Has  she  not  a 
half  paper  currency,  "regulated"  by  a  monopoly,  which  has  been 
twenty-five  of  the  last  fifty  years  suspended,  was  again  on  the  verge 
of  failure  in  1825,  and  has  been  twice  in  danger  in  the  last  four 
years  ?  and  which,  although  somewhat  restrained  by  the  specie  part 
of  the  circulation,  is  still  able  to  produce  such  fluctuations  in  the 
currency  as  to  add  to  the  other  miseries  of  the  laborers  uncertainty 
in  obtaining  even  their  scanty  pittance  ? 

In  all  Mr.  Webster's  investigations  into  the  condition  of  the  labor 
ing-classes  of  England,  he  could  discover  not  one  of  the  institutions 
against  which  he  seeks,  by  his  reference  to  it,  to  excite  a^  senseless 
clamor.  But  he  could  have  seen — if  his  eye  could  discern  such  things 
— the  natural  results  of  a  Government  which  is  founded,  as  he  said 
all  governments  ought  to  be,  "upon  property."  He  might  have 
seen  the  effects  of  the  spirit  of  monopoly,  which  he  so  cherishes  in 
this  country,  written  in  the  suffering  of  millions  of  human  beings. 

I  believe,  gentlemen,  that  I  express  a  sentiment  common  to  us  all, 
and  which  struggles  indignantly  for  utterance,  when  I  say  that  the 


38  THE  LIFE   OF   SAMUEL   J.  TILDEN. 

• 

man  who  could  witness  what  Mr.  Webster  describes,  and,  returning 
to  our  happy  land,  could  compare  the  condition  of  that  oppressed 
people  with  ours — not  to  warn  us  against  the  system  which  caused 
their  degradation,  but  to  urge  the  establishment  of  a  great  moneyed 
monopoly,  in  absolute  supremacy  over  the  business  interests  of  this 
country — can  have  little  appreciation  of  the  causes  of  our  prosperity, 
and  little  sympathy  with  the  principle  of  equal  liberty,  on  which  that 
prosperity  is  founded.  He  may  be  the  appropriate  agent  of  the  stock 
jobbing  interests,  seeking  the  partial  and  unjust  advantages  which 
they  possess  elsewhere ;  but  he  is  unfit  to  guide,  as  he  will  do  if  his 
present  efforts  are  successful,  the  administration  of  a  free  Govern 
ment 

CAUSES    OF   THE    LAEGE    EEWAED    OF    INDUSTBY    IN    THIS    COUNTBY. 

The  sources  of  the  prosperity  of  our  own  country  are  obvious. 
The  security  of  all  classes  in  their  property  causes  the  most  rapid 
growth  and  the  most  useful  investment  of  capital,  and  increases  the 
diligence  and  efficiency  of  labor.  The  general  freedom  of  industry 
enables  all  to  apply  their  labor  to  the  utmost  advantage.  The  strongest 
inducements  and  the  widest  competition  stimulate  to  rapid  improve 
ment.  Our  industry,  in  its  infant  energies,  has  become,  tra  the  whole, 
more  productive  than  that  of  any  other  nation.  But  a  small  portion 
of  its  proceeds  has  been  consumed  by  public  debts  and  taxation, 
and  but  few  monopolies  have  existed  to  change  their  natural  distri 
bution.  The  reward  of  labor  is,  consequently,  greater  than  in  any 
other  part  of  the  world.  Our  social  order  is  based  upon  equal  liberty. 
Its  fruits  are  prosperity,  happiness,  and  virtue.  This  is  our  genuine 
American  system,  and  the  only  one  that  deserves  the  name. 

ABSURDITY    OF    THE    CEY    "  AGEAEIA^ISM." 

I  am  aware  that  an  effort  has  been  made,  in  a  widely-circulated 
pamphlet,  called  "  The  Crisis,"  to  excite  alarm  for  the  security  of 
property.  The  attempt  originates  in  an  entire  ignorance  of  the  prin 
ciples  which  distinguish  our  system  from  the  European.  There,  where 
unjust  legislation  has  withdrawn  property  from  the  masses  who  have 
earned  it,  to  concentrate  it  in  the  few,  the  plunderers  may  well  fear 
lest  their  booty  be  reclaimed — lest  the  physical  power  from  which 
they  have  wrested  it  shall,  sooner  or  later,  rise  to  avenge  the  wrong. 
But  here,  where  property  diffuses  itself  through  the  masses  who  have 
produced  it,  and  will  do  so  more  and  more  if  its  natural  tendency  is 


THE   CAMPAIGN  OF  1840.  39 

not  counteracted  by  unequal  legislation,  property  is  united  with  the 
physical  power  of  society,  and  rests  upon  the  opinion  and  the  interests 
of  the  whole  people.  As  Mr.  Jefferson  said,  Government  is  the 
strongest,  he  might  have  added,  property  is  the  most  secure,  in  this 
country  of  any  in  the  world.  The  eccentricities  of  individual  opinion 
can  never  endanger  either.  The  cant  cry  of  "  agrarianism  "  comes,  in 
other  countries,  from  those  who  are  themselves  practising  that  worse 
species  of  it,  which  takes  by  force  or  fraud  from  those  who  have 
little,  to  give  to  those  who  have  much.  And,  in  this  country,  it  in 
variably  comes  from  those  who  are  seeking  to  establish  some  scheme 
of  unequal  legislation  or  special  privilege.  But  here  it. is  not  merely 
hypocritical,  it  is  absurd 

The  foregoing  excerpts  show  to  some  extent  the  scope 
and  purpose  of  the  speech ;  but  not  fully.  It  was  designed 
not  only  as  an  affirmative  argument,  but  as  an  answer  to  the 
various  arguments  made  by  the  Whigs,  and  it  covered  the 
whole  ground.  The  following  brief  passage  may  be  profitably 
read  and  pondered  by  the  influential  class  to  whom  it  is  ad 
dressed  : 

An  unstable  currency,  producing  instability  in  business  and  prices, 
is  peculiarly  injurious  to  the  farmer.  Neither  his  education  nor  his 
disposition  accustoms  him  to  watch  the  barometer  of  the  exchange. 
When  he  has  conducted  his  business  with  prudence  and  skill,  with  a 
familiar  knowledge  and  sagacious  estimate  of  all  the  circumstances 
that  belong  to  it,  he  ought  to  be  safe.  He  ought  not  to  be  subject  to 
the  tremendous  agency  of  an  unseen  cause  which  may  disappoint  his 
wisest  calculations  and  overwhelm  him.  in  sudden  ruin.  He  ought  to 
be  secure,  in  the  tranquillity  of  his  fireside,  from  the  curse  of  an  un 
stable  and  fluctuating  currency. 

This  speech  brought  Mr.  Tilden  into  friendly  relations 
with  the  leading  financial  writers  of  the  country.  Azariah  C. 
Flagg,  who  was  publishing  at  that  time,  in  Albany,  a  cam 
paign  paper  called  the  Rough-Hewer,  printed  the  speech  as 
an  "  extra  "  to  his  paper,  and  caused  it  to  be  distributed  far 
and  wide.  It  survived  the  overwhelming  defeat  of  Mr.  Van 
Buren  and  the  Democratic  party.  On  the  21st  of  December, 
1840,  Cond6  Raguet,  of.Philadelphia,  the  distinguished  politi- 


40  THE  LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

Cal  economist  and  author  of  several  standard  works  on  bank 
ing,  currency,  and  free  trade,  wrote  to  William  Cullen  Bry 
ant,  saying :  "  If  you  can  give  me  the  address  (by  mail)  of 
Mr.  Tilden,  who  delivered  an  address  last  October  at  New 
Lebanon  in  your  State,  you  will  oblige  me.  I  wish  a  copy 
of  this  most  masterly  production  to  send  to  a  friend  in  Eng 
land,  who  knows  how  to  appreciate  the  truths  of  political 
economy."  On  the  19th  of  January,  1841,  Mr.  Raguet  wrote  to 
Mr.  Tilden,  acknowledging  the  receipt  of  twelve  copies  of  the 
speech  which,  he  says,  "  will  be  distributed  among  gentlemen 
who  know  how  to  appreciate  the  worth  of  sound  doctrine  set 
forth  in  clear  and  intelligible  language."  He  adds :  "There 
is  in  this  city  (Philadelphia)  a  small  club  of  gentlemen  who 
study  political  economy  as  a  science,  and  who  intermeddle 
with  politics  only  so  far  as  to  withhold  their  suffrages  from 
those  who  are  identified  with  false  views  of  banking  and  cur 
rency  and  the  freedom  of  trade,  and  from  three  or  four  of 
them  I  have  heard  the  remark,  which  corresponds  with  my 
own  opinion,  that  your  speech  is  the  clearest  exposition  of 
the  subjects  to  which  it  relates  that  has  yet  appeared  in  that 
department  of  composition."  William  M.  Gouge,  of  Wash 
ington,  also  wrote  to  Mr.  Tilden  in  regard  to  the  speech,  and 
said,  among  other  things  :  "  Henry  Lee,  Esq.,  of  Waltham, 
Massachusetts  (formerly  of  Boston),  has  had  his  attention 
attracted  to  it  by  an  extract  in  the  Globe.  He  wishes  to 
procure  a  copy  of  the  speech,  but  says  he  does  not  know 
where  to  address  you.  You  will  oblige  me  by  sending  him  a 
copy  if  you  have  one  to  spare.  Mr.  Lee  was  selected  by  the 
Nullifiers  as  their  candidate  for  Vice-President.  He  is  a  man 
of  great  intelligence  and  respectability." 

Such  compliments  from  such  sources  come  rarely  to  a 
young  man  who  essays  to  be  a  teacher  of  political  economy. 
It  was  not  he  whom  they  praised  but  his  work,  and  to  that 
work  they  applied  the  test  of  critical  rules  based  on  extensive 
knowledge. 


CHAPTER  V. 

HIS    LAW-OFFICE. HIS    ACQUAINTANCE. —  SILAS    WEIGHT    AND 

OTHERS. — HE    ESTABLISHES    A    PAPER,     HELPS    TO    ELECT    A 
PRESIDENT,  AND  DECLINES  THE  NAVAL  OFFICE. 1841-'45. 

AFTER  Mr.  Tilden's  admission  to  the  bar,  in  1841,  he 
opened  an  office  for  the  practice  of  his  profession  in  Pine  Street, 
in  the  city  of  New  York.  There  came  to  him  clients  in  moder 
ate  numbers,  attracted  by  the  growing  reputation  of  the  wise 
young  counselor.  Such  as  intrusted  their  business  into  his 
hands  were  more  than  satisfied  with  the  result.  They  found 
him  patient,  painstaking,  and  almost  always  successful.  He 
made  himself  the  master  of  a  case  before  he  undertook  to 
prosecute  or  defend  it.  All  possible  points  or  objections 
which  might  arise  in  the  trial  of  a  cause  presented  them 
selves,  first  of  all,  to  his  mind,  and  he  was  therefore  prepared 
to  meet  them.  No  client  in  those  early  days  or  later  found 
fault  with  him,  but  one  and  all  became  his  eulogists,  and 
helped  to  extend  the  lines  of  his  professional  pursuits. 

But  he  did  not  devote  himself  exclusively  to  the  law. 
His  office  was  visited  more  frequently  by  thinkers  than  by 
clients.  Thither  came  editors  and  writers,  political  econo 
mists  and  free-traders,  politicians  and  statesmen.  The  trim 
figure  of  Martin  Van  Buren  might  sometimes  be  seen  ascend 
ing  the  steps.  He  went  to  draw  inspiration  from  the  fresh 
and  vigorous  mind  of  his  young  friend.  William  Cullen 
Bryant,  then  in  the  prime  of  his  useful  life,  was  also  an  occa 
sional  visitor.  He  had  faith  in  the  soundness  of  Mr.  Tilden's 
opinions,  and,  though  they  have  often  differed  since  on  politi 
cal  subjects,  the  strong  bond  of  personal  friendship  existing 


43  THE   LIFE   OF  SAMUEL   J.  TILDEN. 

between  them  has  never  been  broken  or  wrenched.  John 
Van  Buren — brilliant,  lovable,  erratic  Prince  John — delighted 
in  the  old  Pine  Street  office.  He  could  talk  sense  or  nonsense 
by  the  hour,  and  he  never  wearied  of  either.  To  the  end  of 
his  days  he  looked  up  to  Mr.  Tilden  as  his  best  adviser  and 
one  of  his  dearest  friends.  There  also  came  John  Bigelow, 
then  a  young1  lawyer  just  admitted  to  practice,  but  destined 
to  win  a  name  in  the  fields  of  journalism,  statesmanship,  and 
literature ;  and  Parke  Godwin,  his  friend  and  brother-in-law, 
who  early  developed  a  tendency  to  independent  and  vigorous 
thinking.  There  was  one  other  visitor,  who  came  rarely,  but 
who  was  even  more  welcome  than  those  friends  whom  I  have 
enumerated.  His  name  was  Silas  Wright.  He  was  at  that 
time  a  Senator  in  Congress.  He  was  in  the  fullness  of  his  fame, 
between  forty  and  fifty  years  of  age — a  large  man,  mentally 
and  physically,  tall  and  broad-shouldered,  with  a  Websterian 
head,  and  with  a  power  greater  far  than  Webster  possessed  of 
awakening  the  enthusiasm  and  admiration  of  his  personal  fol 
lowers.  He  holds  to-day  no  very  high  place  on  the  scroll  of 
fame.  He  is  known  by  the  rising  generation  in  the  State  of 
New  York  as  a  Senator  and  Governor,  who  won  his  victories 
and  sustained  his  one  great  defeat — and  that  is  almost  all. 
In  his  native  State  of  Massachusetts  his  name  is  hardly  known 
by  those  who  have  grown  up  since  he  died.  He  was  elo 
quent,  but  the  traditions  which  keep  alive  the  eloquence  of 
Henry,  Otis,  and  Adams,  of  Randolph,  Webster,  and  Clay,  do 
not  exist  in  regard  to  Wright,  or,  at  least,  are  confined  to  a 
narrow  circle.  He  was  successful,  but  his  success,  by  his  own 
deliberate  act  of  self-sacrificing  friendship,  stopped  short  of 
the  goal  of  the  average  American  statesman's  ambition — the 
presidency — and  left  him  to  be  enrolled  in  the  more  numer 
ous  company  of  Senators  who  come  and  go  and  are  forgotten. 
He  might  have  been  the  candidate  of  the  Democratic  party 
for  President  in  1844,  but  he  peremptorily  refused  to  permit 
his  name  to  be  used  in  a  convention  which  had  slaughtered 
his  friend  Martin  Van  Buren,  lest  it  should  appear  that  .per- 


ESTABLISHES  THE   MORNING  NEWS.  43 

sonal  ambition  had  cooled  the  ardor  of  his  devotion.  He  was 
nominated  for  Vice-President,  without  his  knowledge,  by  that 
same  convention,  but  declined  to  run.  But,  though  his  elo 
quence  may  be  forgotten,  and  his  defeat  rather  than  his  suc 
cesses  remembered,  yet  the  influence  of  his  life  has  left  its 
impress  on  the  hearts  of  many  men,  and  on  none  deeper  than 
on  Samuel  J.  Tilden's.  Tilden  loved  him.  He  saw  in  him  the 
embodiment  of  those  virtues  which  ennoble  the  public  ser 
vice.  In  age,  in  personal  appearance,  in  habit  of  thought, 
and  in  mental  endowments,  the  two  men  differed  widely;  but 
a  strong  sympathy,  which  even-  death  could  not  sever,  at 
tached  Mr.  Tilden  to  Silas  Wright.  So  it  came  to  pass  that 
he  was  the  most  welcome  of  all  the  visitors  at  the  Pine  Street 
office.  • 

In  1844  the  Democrats  desired  to  establish  a  morning 
newspaper  in  the  city  of  New  York,  with  a  special  view  to 
influencing  the  presidential  election  of  that  year.  Mr.  Tilden 
was  approached  on  the  subject,  and  offered  to  subscribe  lib 
erally,  considering  his  limited  means  at  that  time,  to  further 
the  project.  But  the  leading  men  of  the  party  in  the  city 
and  State  demanded  more  of  him — they  wished  him  to  assume 
the  management  and  editorship  of  the  paper.  They  knew 
he  was  a  ready  writer,  and  they  did  not  doubt  that  he  would 
succeed  in  any  business  he  undertook.  It  was  the  first  real 
sacrifice  for  the  party  which  he  had  been  called  upon  to  make, 
and  it  was  no  small  sacrifice.  He  was  treading  his  wav  slowly 
to  fame  and  fortune  in  the  most  exacting  of  the  professions, 
and  to  abandon  it  temporarily  was  to  endanger  if  not  destroy 
his  practice.  He  had  entered  upon  the  law  with  the  fixed  de 
termination  of  making  it  the  business  of  his  life,  and  no  prom 
ise  of  success  in  other  fields  could  divert  him  from  it.  But 
he  accepted  the  counsels  of  his  party  as  the  demand  of  duty, 
and  consented  to  assume  the  management  of  the  Morning 
News.  Mr.  Tilden  was  always  loath  to  place  himself  under 
pecuniary  obligations  to  others,  and,  fearing  lest  the  venture 
should  prove  a  failure,  he  furnished  most  of  the  capital.  He 


44  THE  LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

associated  with  himself  in  business  Mr.  John  L.  O'Sullivan,  a 
brilliant  writer  and  sometimes  impetuous  man,  who  afterward 
acquired  distinction  in  the  consular  service  of  the  United 
States  and  as  the  editor  of  the  Democratic  JReview. 

The  News  was  successful  from  the  beginning,  not  only  as 
a  business  enterprise,  but  as  a  political  power.  There  never 
was  a  time  in  the  history  of  the  Democratic  party  when  dis 
cretion,  vitalized  by  courage,  was  more  essential  to  journal 
istic  success  than  during  the  canvass  of  1844.  Mr.  Folk's 
nomination  for  the  presidency,  and  the  defeat  of  Mr.  Van 
Buren,  made  New  York  the  battle-field  of  the  contest.  To 
promote  harmony,  and  to  attest  the  fidelity  of  Van  Buren's 
friends,  Silas  Wright  consented  to  leave  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States,  and  to  accept  a  nomination  for  Governor..  But, 
notwithstanding  the  unselfish  course  adopted  by  Van  Buren 
and  Wright,  the  Whigs  were  hopeful  of  securing  a  sufficient 
number  of  votes  from  disaffected  Democrats  to  carry  the  State 
of  New  York  for  Clay — in  which  event  they  felt  that  his  elec 
tion  was  assured.  The  Whigs  also  counted  on  other  divisions 
to  aid  them,  and  foremost  among  those  divisions  was  that 
produced  by  the  "  Native  American  "  movement.  This  germ 
of  Knownothingism  sprang  into  existence,  gathered  strength, 
and  took  form,  just  before  the  charter  election,  in  April,  1844. 
The  Democrats  had  nominated  Mr.  Coddington,  and  the  Whigs 
Mr.  Franklin,  for  Mayor,  when  the  Natives  held  a  meeting 
and  nominated  Mr.  Harper,  of  the  well-known  publishing  firm 
of  Harper  &  Brothers.  Mr.  Harper  was  elected  over  the  can 
didates  of  both  the  great  parties  by  the  surprising  majority 
of  4,316.  The  Native  Americans  professed  to  occupy  neutral 
ground  between  the  Whigs  and  Democrats,  and  declared  that 
their  organization  had  no  other  purpose  in  view  than  to  pre 
vent  adopted  citizens  from  monopolizing  the  local  offices.  As 
a  majority  of  these  adopted  citizens  would  naturally  affiliate 
with  the  Democracy — the  party  which  came  into  existence  on 
the  question  of  the  repeal  of  the  Alien  and  Sedition  laws — a  bold 
effort  was  made  to  unite  the  Native  Americans  in  support  of  the 


HELPS   TO   ELECT  A  FKESIDENT.  45 

Whig  candidates.  If  that  effort  had  succeeded,  the  Whigs 
would  have  carried  New  York,  and  Mr.  Clay  would  have  been 
President,  for  the  Natives  had  recruited  their  strength  almost 
as  largely  from  the  Democratic  as  from  the  Whig  ranks.  To 
defeat  the  scheme,  and  to  win  back  to  the  Democratic  party 
the  voters  who  had  gone  off  on  this  side-issue,  was  the  work 
to  which  Mr.  Tilden  particularly  devoted  himself  through  the 
columns  of  the  Morning  JVews.  The  "  American  mechanics," 
as  they  delighted  to  call  themselves,  constituted  a  class  among 
whom  he  was  no  stranger.  Long  before  this  "  Native  "  ques 
tion  had  arisen,  he  had  endeared  himself  to  them  by  the  reso 
lution  and  address  previously  referred  to,  and  through  the 
publication  of  which  they  had  gained  important  political  rec 
ognition.  They  were  more  tolerant,  therefore,  of  his  advice 
than  of  that  of  almost  any  other  Democrat.  The  result  of  the 
election  in  the  city  showed  that  he  had  worked  to  some  pur 
pose.  Mr.  Polk  secured  a  majority  of  1,734,  and  Mr.  Wright 
a  majority  of  3,386,  while  the  Native  Americans  elected  their 
candidates  for  the  Assembly,  the  State  Senate,  and  Congress. 
Mr.  Polk  carried  the  State  by  a  plurality  approximating  5,100, 
while  Governor  Wright  was  elected  by  10,033  majority  over 
Millard  Fillmore,  the  Whig  candidate  for  Governor. 

After  the  election,  Mr.  Tilden  brought  his  journalistic 
career  to  a  sudden  close.  He  presented  his  entire  interest  in 
the  Daily  N~ews — which  had  come  to  be  a  valuable  piece  of 
property — to  his  partner,  Mr.  O'Sullivan,  and  returned  to  the 
practice  of  the  law. 

In  the  spring  of  1845,  after  Mr.  Folk's  inauguration,  Mr. 
Tilden  visited  Washington  in  the  interest  of  sonue  of  his 
friends  who  were  candidates  for  positions  under  the  Govern 
ment.  He  found  there  the  usual  crowd  of  applicants  for 
places,  but  as  he  wanted  nothing  for  himself  he  was  accorded 
a  readier  hearing  than  others.  After  an  interview  with  Mr. 
Polk,  and  with  some  members  of  the  cabinet,  he  staid  to 
abide  the  development  of  events.  He  was  surprised  at  the 
cordial  reception  which  awaited  him  on  all  sides,  but  he  had 


46  THE   LIFE   OF   SAMUEL   J.  TILDEN. 

no  suspicion  of  the  cause  of  it  till  Governor  Marcy,  who  bad 
just  been  appointed  Secretary  of  War,  met  him  one  day,  and, 
seizing  his  hand,  exclaimed  :  "  I  congratulate  you  most  heart 
ily.  They  have  decided  after  all  to  give  it  to  you." 

"  To  give  what  to  me?"  asked  Mr.  Tilden. 

"  The  New  York  Naval  Office.  We  talked  it  over  in  the 
cabinet  to-day,  and  the  President  has  decided  upon  it." 

To  most  men  this  would  have  been  a  tempting  offer. 
Mr.  Tilden  had  just  completed  his  thirty-first  year,  and  he 
had  his  fortune  to  make.  The  New  York  Naval  Office  was 
considered  one  of  the  best  places  in  the  President's  gift.  A 
dozen  years  later  the  office  was  sought  and  held  by  a  distin 
guished  statesman  who  had  been  a  Senator  in  Congress,  Gen 
eral  John  A.  Dix.  But  Mr.  Tilden  did  not  hesitate  for  a 
moment.  He  promptly  replied :  "  I  won't  take  the  place.  I 
came  here  to  help  others,  and  not  to  push  myself.  Moreover, 
I  resolved  when  I  was  admitted  to  the  bar  that  I  would  never 
hold  an  office  on  account  of  its  pecuniary  reward.  If  I  take 
any  position,  at  any  time,  it  must  be  in  the  line  of  my  profes 
sion,  or  a  post  of  honor,  but  at  present  I  will  take  nothing." 

To  the  resolution  expressed  at  that  time,  Mr.  Tilden  has 
always  steadfastly  and  strictly  adhered. 


CHAPTER  VT. 

IN   THE    ASSEMBLY   AND    CONSTITUTIONAL     CONVENTION 1846. 

IN  the  autumn  of  1845  Mr.  Tilden  accepted  a  nomination 
for  the  New  York  Assembly,  and  was  elected.  He  took  the 
place  because  Governor  Wright  greatly  desired  that  he  should. 
He  had  neglected  his  own  affairs  so  much  in  the  public  ser 
vice  since  he  came  to  man's  estate — always  without  fee  or  the 
hope  of  reward — that  his  lessening  income  warned  him  that 
he  must  devote  himself  to  his  profession  if  he  wished  to  es 
cape  the  inconvenience  of  poverty.  But  Governor  Wright's 
wishes  were  law  to  him,  and  it  was,  indeed,  a  time  when  the 
Governor  stood  in  sore  need  of  the  active  exertions  of  all  his 
friends.  It  is  not  perhaps  desirable — unless  by  way  of  warn 
ing — to  revive  the  memory  of  old  feuds  in  the  Democratic 
party,  but  it  is  necessary,  briefly,  to  recount  the  situation  of 
public  affairs  at  the  time.  Mr.  Tilden  served  in  the  Assem 
bly,  because  that  situation,  and  the  events  which  grew  out 
of  it,  had  a  very  marked  effect  on  Mr.  Tilden's  subsequent 
life. 

On  the  1st  of  Januar}',  1845,  when  Governor  Wright  was 
inaugurated,  the  future  of  the  party  was  full  of  bright  promise. 
The  Hunkers  and  Radicals  had"buried  (or  otherwise  concealed) 
their  hatchets,  Mr.  Polk  was  triumphantly  elected  to  the 
presidency,  and  Mr.  Wright  to  the  governorship,  while  the 
people  everywhere  in  the  State  had  shown  a  disposition  to 
discourage  or  ignore  the  faction-fights  of  their  leaders.  But 
the  bright  promise  was  soon  broken,  and  the  future  quickly 
clouded.  Within  a  few  days  of  the  assembling  of  the  Legis 
lature  the  leaders  of  the  factions  were  at  loggerheads  again, 


48  THE   LIFE   OF   SAMUEL   J.  TILDEN. 

first  over  the  choice  of  a  Speaker  of  the  Assembly,  then  over 
the  election  of  a  Senator  in  Congress,  and  finally,  and  more 
fiercely,  over  the  policy  of  calling  a  constitutional  convention, 
and  over  a  bill  appropriating  money  for  building  the  Genesee 
Valley  Canal,  for  which  the  Hunkers  voted,  and  which  the 
Governor  vetoed.  Added  to  all  this  was  the  prospect  of  a 
growing  coolness  between  the  Administration  of  Mr.  Polk  and 
the  friends  of  Governor  Wright.  In  "Washington  it  was 
feared  that  Wright  was  being  worked  up  into  a  presidential 
candidate  for  1848,  and  in  Albany  it  was  charged  that  no  sense 
of  gratitude  was  shown  by  the  President  toward  those  who 
had  done  so  much  to  compass  his  election.  Notwithstanding 
these  feuds,  however,  the  Democrats  carried  the  State  by  a 
reasonably  large  majority  in  the  fall  of  1845,  secured  both 
branches  of  the  Legislature,  and  seemed  tolerably  strong  at 
the  beginning  of  1846.  Governor  Wright  had  taken  care  to 
have  more  of  his  personal  friends  in  the  law-making  body 
than  were  there  the  previous  year.  The  most  discreet,  and 
therefore  the  most  effective,  of  these  friends  was  Mr.  Tilden. 
The  result  was,  that  Governor  Wright  grew  stronger,  and  at 
the  end  of  the  session  appeared  to  have  regained  his  old  su 
premacy  in  the  State. 

The  general  business  of  the  session  was  not  important, 
but  on  all  questions  relating  to  finance,  to  the  saving  of  the 
people's  money,  to  the  remission  of  taxes,  and  to  the  enlarge 
ment  of  personal  liberty,  Mr.  Tilden  showed  the  spirit  and 
capacity  of  a  leader.  On  the  day  before  the  final  adjourn 
ment  (the  12th  of  Ma^,  1846),  the  news  reached  Albany 
that  war  had  been  declared  between  the  United  States  and 
Mexico.  A  joint  resolution  was  immediately  introduced, 
which  Mr.  Tilden  warmly  favored,  authorizing  the  Governor 
to  enroll  fifty  thousand  men  to  meet  the  emergency,  and  ap 
propriating  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  for  that  purpose. 
He  opposed  the  annexation  of  Texas,  but  he  urged  the  vigor 
ous  prosecution  of  the  war  waged  against  those  who  had  in 
sulted  the  flag  of  our  love  and  commemoration. 


IN  THE  ASSEMBLY  AND  CONSTITUTIONAL  CONVENTION.      49 

While  serving  in  the  Assembly,  Mr.  Tilden  was  elected  a 
member  of  the  Constitutional  Convention  of  1846.  In  that 
body  he  played  a  distinguished  part.  It  was  the  desire  of 
the  president  of  the  convention  to  place  him  on  the  Judiciary 
Committee,  and  the  place  was  congenial  to  his  tastes.  But 
Governor  Wright  said  this  to  him :  "  Don't  do  it.  The 
framing  of  a  really  satisfactory  judiciary  article  is  an  impossi 
ble  task,  either  now  or  hereafter.  If  the  members  of  the  com 
mittee  reach  any  agreement  among  themselves,  I  shall  be 
greatly  surprised.  If  the  work  of  any  of  them  meets  the  ap 
proval  of  the  convention,  I  shall  be  more  surprised.  The  ar 
ticle  which  will  be  adopted  in  the  end  will  be  made  up  in 
committee  or  convention  of  concessions  and  compromises. 
Go  where  you  can  make  yourself  more  useful."  This  advice, 
which  covered  a  very  noteworthy  because  a  very  accurate 
prophecy,  was  followed  by  Mr.  Tilden,  who  took  the  second 
place  on  the  Committee  on  Canals  and  Finance,  of  which 
committee  Michael  Hoffman  was  chairman.  This  committee 
reported  the  following  articles,  on  the  power  of  the  Legis 
lature  to  create  debt,  which  were  adopted : 

1.  No  money  shall  be  paid  out  of  the  Treasury  except  in  pursu 
ance  of  a  law  specifically  appropriating  the  same,  and  designating  the 
object  to  which  it  is  to  be  applied. 

2.  The  credit  of  the  State  shall  never  be  loaned. 

3.  The  State  may  borrow,  to  meet  contingencies,  moneys,  which 
in  the  aggregate  shall  not  exceed  one  million  dollars,  and  the  moneys 
so  borrowed  shall  be  applied  to  the  purpose  for  which  they  were  ob 
tained,  and  no  other. 

4.  This  restriction  not  to  apply  to  money  which  it  may  be  neces 
sary  to  raise  to  repel  invasion  or  suppress  insurrection. 

5.  Except  the  debts  specified  in  the  third  and  fourth  sections  of 
this  article,  no  debt  shall  be  created  without  at  the  same  time  laying 
a  direct  annual  tax,  sufficient  to  pay  the  interest  and  redeem  the  prin 
cipal  in  eighteen  years;   but  no  such  law  shall  take  effect  until  it 
shall,  at  a  general  election,  have  been  submitted  to  the  people,  and 
have  received  a  majority  of  the  votes  cast  at  such  election. 

If  modifications  of  these  stern  doctrines  had   not   been 
3 


50  THE  LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

urged  and  adopted,  the  financial  system  of  the  State  of  New 
York  would  have  been  as  near  perfection  as  human  enact 
ments  are  apt  to  go.  To  Mr.  Tilden  is  due,  in  a  large  degree, 
the  credit  of  this  work.  Michael  Hoffman,  who  was  an  able 
financier,  accepted  Mr.  Tilden's  suggestions,  and  sought  his 
counsels.  The  portion  of  the  work  to  which  Mr.  Hoffman 
more  exclusively  devoted  himself  was  that  relating  to  the 
canals ;  this  threw  the  question  of  the  State  debt  on  Mr.  Til- 
den,  but  he  in  turn  was  greatly  aided  in  carrying  it  through 
the  convention  by  the  intelligent  zeal  and  earnest  eloquence 
of  Mr.  Hoffman.  Together  these  men  accomplished  a  vast 
labor  for  the  State. 

On  the  9th  of  October,  1846,  the  Constitutional  Conven 
tion  adjourned,  and  Mr.  Tilden  was  released  from  those  public 
duties  which  had  occupied  his  time  since  the  assembling  of 
the  Legislature  in  January.  But  he  could  not  return  to  his 
profession,  for  on  the  first  day  of  the  same  month  Silas 
Wright  had  been  nominated  to  the  office  of  Governor  by  an 
overwhelming  majority  in  the  Democratic  Convention.  A 
week  earlier,  the  Whigs  had  placed  John  Young  in  nomina 
tion.  A  feeling  prevailed  that  the  election  was  to  decide  the 
fate  of  Wright.  If  he  triumphed,  he  would  be  the  next  Pres 
ident  of  the  United  States.  If  he  failed,  he  might  never 
again  rise  to  prominence  in  politics.  Mr.  Tilden  felt  this, 
and  he  worked  for  him  with  all  the  devotion  which  love  in 
spires.  Nevertheless,  Silas  Wright  was  defeated,  and  defeated, 
too,  by  more  than  11,000  majority.  He  went  to  his  home  in 
St.  Lawrence  County,  resumed  his  business  as  a  farmer,  gave 
no  outward  sign  of  suffering,  but  in  nine  months  he  died. 

After  the  defeat  of  Governor  Wright,  Mr.  Tilden  renewed 
his  resolve  to  return  to  the  practice  of  his  profession,  and  not 
again  to  be  diverted  into  accepting  nominations  for  office.  He 
kept  this  resolution  in  spirit,  if  not  in  letter.  He  attended 
the  Buffalo  Convention  in  1848,  as  a  delegate  and  a  friend  of 
Mr.  Van  Buren ;  but  he  took  no  very  active  part  in  the  can 
vass.  One  other  departure  from  this  rule  forms  the  subject 
of  the  next  chapter. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

SUMPTUARY   LEGISLATION". 

IN  1855  Mr.  Tilden  was  nominated  for  Attorney-General 
of  the  State  of  New  York  by  that  portion  of  the  Democratic 
party  which  had  acquired  the  name  of  "  Soft  Shells."  The 
political  situation  was  peculiar.  At  the  election  of  the  pre 
vious  year  (1854)  Governor  Seymour,  who  had  been  renomi- 
nated  by  the  Democrats,  was  defeated  by  a  vote  of  156,495 
for  Seymour,  and  156,804  for  his  successful  competitor,  Myron 
H.  Clark.  At  the  same  election  the  Know-nothings  cast  a 
vote  of  122,282,  and  the  "Hard-Shell"  Democrats  polled 
33,850  votes.  The  canvass  was  very  exciting,  and  the  excite 
ment  grew  chiefly  out  of  the  fact  that,  during  the  previous 
winter,  the  Legislature  passed  a  prohibitory  liquor  law  which 
Governor  Seymour  vetoed.  He  based  his  veto  on  the  broad 
ground  that  the  act  was  unconstitutional  (the  ground  sub 
sequently  taken  by  the  Court  of  Appeals),  but  none  the  less 
he  was  fiercely  attacked  in  various  quarters.  The  Prohibi 
tionists  united  in  the  support  of  Myron  H.  Clark,  who  was 
also  adopted  by  the  Republican  party,  which  was  then  in  the 
first  year  of  its  existence  with  an  unperfected  organization. 
The  divisions  in  the  Democratic  ranks,  and  the  large  vote 
drawn  off  by  the  native  Americans,  contributed  to  Governor 
Clark's  success.  His  election  was  hailed  by  the  Prohibitionists 
as  a  triumph  of  their  principles.  What  was  commonly  called 
the  Maine  Liquor  Law  passed  the  Legislature  of  1855,  and 
was  signed  by  the  Governor.  Under  the  stimulus  of  success 
the  Prohibitionists  grew  somewhat  intemperate  in  their  zeal, 
and  threatened  to  drive  into  private  life  those  officials,  includ- 


52  •         THE   LIFE   OF   SAMUEL   J.  TILDEN. 

ing  judges,  who  questioned  the  propriety  or  legality  of  their 
acts. 

This,  then,  was  the  situation  when  Mr.  Tilden  was  nomi 
nated  for  Attorney-General.  The  Prohibitionists  were  in 
power ;  the  Know-nothings  were  steadily  gaining  strength, 
and  the  Democrats  were  divided  and  appeared  to  be  losing 
ground  rapidly.  But  Mr.  Tilden's  fine  and  growing  fame  as 
a  lawyer  would  have  made  him  a  great  accession  to  the  ranks 
of  any  party.  The  Know-nothings  would  gladly  have  adopted 
him  if  he  had  even  consented  to  hold  his  peace  on  the  doctrines 
which  they  advocated.  But  he  took  most  emphatic  ground 
against  their  proscriptive  policy,  and  boldly  championed  the 
rights  of  adopted  citizens.  The  Prohibitionists  would  have 
enrolled  him  in  their  ranks,  notwithstanding  his  Democratic 
antecedents,  if  he  had  met  them  half-way.  It  seemed,  at 
least,  to  be  the  part  of  prudence  that  he  should  keep  quiet  on 
the  issue  of  prohibition  during  the  canvass.  But  prudence  of 
that  sort  was  never  an  element  of  his  nature.  Pending  the 
canvass  a  note  was  addressed  to  each  of  the  four  candidates 
for  Attorney-General  (for  the  Prohibitionists,  the  Know-noth 
ings,  and  the  "  Hard  "  and  "  Soft  "  Democrats  had  all  nomi 
nated  tickets),  asking  his  opinion  on  the  question  of  the  pro 
hibition  act.  Mr.  Tilden's  reply  to  that  note  was  as  follows  : 

NEW  YORK,   October  3,  1855. 

GENTLEMEN  :  Your  letter  asking  my  opinion  as  to  the  law  recently 
enacted  in  this  State,  and  entitled  "  An  Act  for  the  Prevention  of 
Intemperance,  Pauperism  and  Crime,"  has  been  received. 

The  question  relates  to  the  functions  of  the  office  for  which  I  have 
been  nominated,  and  may  reasonably, 'and  does,  in  fact,  largely  occupy 
the  attention  of  the  electors.  Under  the  circumstances,  I  have  no 
hesitation  in  stating  to  you  opinions  which  have  been  expressed  to  so 
man^  persons  and  for  so  long  a  period  as  to  protect  me  from  the  sus 
picion  of  shaping  them  to  the  present  exigency,  and  which  accord  en 
tirely  with  the  rules  for  construing  our  State  and  federative  constitu 
tions,  the  principles  of  political  economy,  and  the  convictions  as  to 
the  proper  sphere  of  government  by  which  my  political  action  has 
been  hitherto  invariably  guided. 


SUMPTUARY  LEGISLATION.  53 

The  design  of  the  law  to  which  yon  refer  is  to  stop  the  use  of  all 
distilled  spirits,  wines,  ales,  and  beers,  except  for  manufacturing, 
medicinal,  and  sacramental  purposes,  by  disabling  all  individuals  from 
obtaining  these  articles,  unless  from  certain  quasi  public  officers  in 
vested  with  legal  power  to  judge,  in  their  own  absolute  discretion, 
as  to  the  probable  nature  of  the  use  intended  by  the  purchaser.  It 
is  not  strange  that  the  authors  of  an  act  which  aims  at  controlling 
the  tastes  and  habits  of  three  and  a  half  millions  of  people,  in  a  mat 
ter  which  each  individual  must  regard  as  peculiarly,  if  not  exclusive 
ly,  personal  to  himself — which  aims  at  working,  by  a  legislative  fiat, 
an  instantaneous  revolution  in  the  traditional  customs  of  large  classes, 
in  a  particular  in  respect  to  which  all  men  are  apt  to  be  most  tena 
cious — should  deem  it  necessary  to  invoke  the  aid  of  a  novel  and 
extraordinary  legal  machinery.  Intent  on  such  an  object,  they  nat 
urally  saw  what  it  required,  rather  than  what  the  constitution  al 
lows.  They  devised  and  incorporated  into  this  law  a  special  criminal 
procedure,  on  which  they  obviously  relied  for  the  enforcement  of  its 
prohibitions  and  penalties.  That  procedure  is  wanting  in  the  char 
acteristic  features  and  essential  elements  of  the  common-law  proced 
ure  applicable  to  such  cases,  as  it  has  been  immemorially  practised 
in  this  State,  and  as  it  has  been  defined,  expounded,  and  upheld,  by 
an  unbroken  series  of  our  judicial  decisions,  as  well  as  by  the  courts 
of  our  sister  States,  of  the  Federal  Government,  and  of  that  country 
from  which  the  common  law  itself  was  derived.  Nor  does  the  act 
stop  here.  Eeversing  a  fundamental  rule  of  evidence,  which  is 
founded  in  reason  and  natural  equity,  and  has  been  for  ages  the 
shield  of  individual  rights  and  personal  safety,  it  presumes  guilt 
instead  of  innocence.  It  declares  a  delivery  to  be  presumptive  evi 
dence  of  a  sale,  and  the  sale  to  be  sufficient  proof  of  an  unlawful 
intent.  Conceding  certain  uses  to  be  so  proper  and  necessary  that 
the  sale  cannot  be  wholly  forbidden,  it  makes  the  seller  an  inquisitor 
into  the  secret  purpose  of  the  buyer  ;  it  then  distrusts  its  own  agent 
and  assumes  to  deal  with  the  intent  with  which  he  does  an  act  au 
thorized  by  it  as  lawful ;  and,  shrinking  from  itself  attempting  to 
prove  the  true  nature  of  that  intent,  it  pronounces  him  guilty  unless 
he  acquit  himself  by  proof  of  an  equally  difficult  character.  It  is 
but  fair  to  add  that  the  act  applies  the  same  code  to  every  citizen 
who  delivers  a  bottle  of  wine  or  a  glass  of  ale  for  the  most  useful  or 
humane  purpose.  Another  of  its  provisions  passes  sentence  of  out 
lawry  upon  certain  property,  and  abrogates  all  remedies  for  its  re- 


54  THE   LIFE  OF  SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

covery,  even  as  against  a  thief  or  robber,  unless  upon  the  impracti 
cable  condition  that  the  true  owner  shall  first  prove  affirmatively 
the  absence  from  his  own  mind  of  the  intent  to  sell.  Another  totally 
perverts  an  ancient  and  well-settled  legal  definition,  in  order  to  at 
tach  the  incidents  of  a  nuisance  to  property,  under  circumstances 
that  bear  no  analogy  to  that  character.  And,  in  many  respects,  the 
act  works  sweeping  legislative  confiscations  of  private  property. 

It  is,  in  my  judgment,  against  precisely  such  legislation  as  this  that 
our  State  constitution  intends  to  protect  every  citizen,  when  it  de 
clares  that  no  person  shall  "  be  deprived  of  life,  liberty,  or  property, 
without  due  process  of  law"  These  latter  words  are  an  early  legal 
paraphrase  of  the  words  "  law  of  the  land,"  in  Magna  Charta,  which 
are  also  adopted  from  it  into  another  provision  of  our  State  constitu 
tion.  The  restraints  they  create  were  originally  imposed  on  the 
executive  power.  Our  Anglo-Saxon  ancestors,  jealous  in  behalf  of 
the  common  law,  often  invoked  their  protection,  not  merely  against 
the  arbitrary  acts  of  the  sovereign,  but  against  his  attempt  to  intro 
duce  novel  processes,  similar  to  that  adopted  in  this  act,  and  borrowed 
from  the  same  source.  Brought  to  this  country  with  other  sacred 
traditions  of  ancient  freedom,  they  were  inserted  in  our  American 
written  constitutions  as  restraints  on  the  legislative  power  in  favor 
of  individual  rights.  In  this  State  the  language  of  the  restriction 
has  received  a  well-settled  judicial  interpretation.  It  has  been  held 
to  restrain  the  Legislature  from  itself  usurping  judicial  power  over 
life,  liberty,  or  property,  and  from  creating  any  new  process  for  the 
forfeiture  of  these  great  rights  which  should  substantially  depart 
from  the  customary  procedure  of  the  common  law.  This  established 
construction  must  have  been  familiar  to  the  able  and  learned  lawyers 
who  shared  in  the  discussion  of  this  part  of  the  constitution  in  the 
convention  of  1846.  In  the  exact  words  which  had  received  such  a 
construction,  the  clause  was  adopted  by  that  body,  and  was  ratified 
as  the  deliberate  and  permanent  will  of  the  people,  expressed  in  the 
fundamental  law  of  the  State.  In  the  same  sense,  it  is  now  binding 
on  their  legislative  agents  and  on  the  judicial  tribunals.  I  am  of 
opinion,  therefore,  that  the  prohibitory  act,  in  the  provisions  which 
form  its  distinguishing  characteristics — are  interwoven  with  its  whole 
structure,  and  supply  the  means  on  which  it  relies  to  effect  its  pur 
pose — is  unconstitutional  and  void. 

Such  legislation  springs  from  a  misconception  of  the  proper 
sphere  of  government.  It  is  no  part  of  the  duty  of  the  State  to 


SUMPTUARY  LEGISLATION.  55 

coerce  the  individual  man  except  so  far  as  his  conduct  may  affect 
others — not  remotely  and  consequentially — but  by  violating  rights 
which  legislation  can  recognize  and  undertake  to  protect.  The  op 
posite  principle  leaves  no  room  for  individual  reason  and  conscience, 
trusts  nothing  to  self-culture,  and  substitutes  the  wisdom  of  the  Sen 
ate  and  Assembly  for  the  plan  of  moral  government  ordained  by- 
Providence.  The  whole  progress  of  society  consists  in  learning  how 
to  attain,  by  the  independent  action  or  voluntary  association  of  indi 
viduals,  those  objects  which  are  at  first  attempted  only  through  the 
agency  of  government,  and  in  lessening  the  sphere  of  legislation  and 
enlarging  that  of  the  individual  reason  and  conscience.  Our  Amer 
ican  institutions  have  recognized  this  idea  more  completely  than 
others,  and  the  Democratic  party  has  generally  been  the  faithful 
guardian  of  its  progressive  development  In  most  of  the  great 
practical  questions  of  our  time,  it  has  opposed  the  interference  of 
Government  even  for  the  best  objects,  and,  because  it  was  solicitous 
for  those  objects,  has  preferred  to  trust  them  to  wiser,  safer,  and 
more  efficient  agencies.  Devoted  to  the  rights  of  our  American  in 
dustry,  which  is  now  beginning  to  fill  the  world  with  the  renown 
of  its  achievements,  it  has  refused  to  direct  its  application  by  pro 
hibitory  or  protective  tariffs ;  preferring  that  each  man  should  judge 
how  he  can  make  his  own  labor  most  productive,  and  trusting  for 
the  aggregate  result  to  those  natural  laws  which  enable  every  one 
of  our  million  of  city  population  to  daily  choose  his  food,  and  yet 
"furnish  buyers  for  everything  that  has  been  provided  beforehand. 
Claiming  a  good  currency  for  the  people,  and  well-regulated  ex 
changes,  it  has  discarded  a  national  bank,  and  seeks  to  put  these 
great  interests  under  the  guardianship  of  the  laws  of  trade.  Friendly 
to  the  modern  machinery  of  travel  and  transport,  which,  by  cheap 
ening  the  interchange  of  products  of  different  soils  and  climates, 
has  in  effect  added  fertility  to  th'e  one  and  geniality  to  the  other,  it 
has  opposed  internal  improvements  by  the  General  Government,  and 
prohibited  loans  of  State  credit  and  money  in  aid  of  railroads.  As 
serting  the  freedom  of  voluntary  association,  it  has  refused  special 
charters,  and  established  general  laws  of  incorporation.  On  all 
these  questions,  which  have  largely  occupied  the  public  attention  for 
a  generation,  because  the  Democratic  party  has  favored  the  ends,  it 
has  rejected  the  means  by  which  large  parties  and  many  good  men 
have  erroneously  sought  to  promote  them.  To-day,  while  it  is  in 
favor  of  sobriety  and  good  morals,  it  disowns  a  system  of  coercive 


56  THE   LIFE   OF   SAMUEL   J.  TILDEN. 

legislation  which  cannot  produce  them,  but  must  create  many  seri 
ous  evils — which  violates  constitutional  guarantees  and  sound  prin 
ciples  of  legislation — invades  the  rightful  domain  of  the  individual 
judgment  and  conscience — and  takes  a  step  backward  toward  that 
barbarian  age  when  the  wages  of  labor,  the  prices  of  commodities, 
a  man's  food  and  clothing,  were  dictated  to  him  by  a  government 
calling  itself  paternal.  I  need  not  add  that  in  this  conclusion,  as 
well  as  in  the  general  course  of  the  Democratic  party  on  these  former 
occasions,  I  entirely  concur. 

With  great  respect,  gentlemen,  I  remain  yours,  etc., 

SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 
To  Hon.  JOHN  TAYLOR  and  ANDREW  KIRK,  Esq 

It  will  be  seen  that  this  opinion  covers  the  whole  ground. 
It  deals  with  prohibition  as  a  question  of  law,  a  question  of 
statesmanship,  and  a  question  of  morals.  The  explicit,  straight 
forward  style  of  its  author  leaves  no  room  to  doubt  his  posi 
tion  on  the  issue  of  sumptuary  legislation.  I  submitted  the 
letter  not  long  ago  to  the  most  ultra-prohibitionist  of  my  ac 
quaintance.  He  said :  "  I  differ  from  every  proposition  con 
tained  in  that  opinion.  But  if  I  were  not  going  to  vote  for 
General  Smith  "  (I  hope  it  is  unnecessary  to  explain  that 
General  Green  Clay  Smith,  of  Kentucky,  is  the  prohibitionist 
candidate  for  President  of  the  United  States  this  year),  "  I 
would  vote  for  Tilden.  I  have  respect  for  an  outspoken  oppo 
nent  of  our  cause,  but  those  miserable  politicians  who  profess 
to  be  the  friends  of  prohibition,  and  who  beguile  away  our 
votes  and  destroy  our  strength,  are  my  utter  detestation. 
Governor  Tilden  isn't  with  us,  but  he  is  the  next  best  thing, 
he  is  an  honest  enemy."  I  do  not  know  how  many  pro 
hibitionists  share  this  opinion  ;  but  I  believe  that  Mr.  Tilden's 
liberal  views  on  the  subject  of  sumptuary  legislation  will  com 
mend  him  to  the  liberty-loving  citizens  of  the  United  States. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

ME.   T1LDEN   AS   A   LAWYER THE    FLAGG   CASE. 

ME.  TILDEN'S  reputation  as  a  lawyer  rests  on  a  secure 
foundation.  He  won  no  marked  triumphs  in  early  life  as  an 
advocate  ;  he  never  sought  to  convince  a  jury  against  their 
own  better  judgment  by  the  mere  force  of  eloquence  ;  and  he 
never  gained  a  case  by  a  quibble  or  a  resort  to  sharp  practice. 
His  "success  was  the  legitimate  result  of  intelligent  labor.  To 
estimate  his  character  or  to  understand  his  life  it  is  necessary 
that  the  reader  should  follow  him  through  some  of  the  famous 
law  cases  with  which  he  has  been  connected.  And,  first  among 
these,  the  Flagg  contested  election  case,  in  New  York  City,  in 
1856,  claims  attention. 

This  case  came  up  in  the  days  of  Know-nothingism,  when 
a  nondescript  alliance  of  political  elements  styling  itself  the 
Native  American  party,  and  keeping  its  policy  and  member 
ship  bound  to  the  dictates  of  a  secret  conclave,  had  made  a 
brilliant  but  short-lived  success.  The  political  principles  of 
the  Know-nothings  were  averse  to  the  election  of  any  but 
native  Americans  to  public  office.  When  inquiry  was  made 
of  any  of  their  number  about  their  party  policy  the  invariable 
evasion  was,  "  I  don't  know,"  from  which  their  opponents 
quickly  manufactured  the  name  by  which  they  are  known 
in  political  history.  In  the  year  1855  the  Know-nothings 
achieved  a  partial  victory  in  the  State  of  New  York.  They 
elected  a  Secretary  of  State  by  nearly  12,000  majority,  five 
judges  of  the  Supreme  Court,  and  a  strong  minority  in  the 
Legislature.  In  the  city  of  New  York  they  had  exerted 
themselves  to  their  utmost  to  elect  Giles,  who  had  been  nom- 


58  THE   LIFE   OF  SAMUEL   J.  TILDEN. 

inated  for  the  office  of  Comptroller,  and  who  was  regarded  as 
a  strong  candidate  chiefly  on  account  of  his  obscurity.  Mr. 
Giles's  opponent,  the  regular  nominee  of  the  Democratic  party, 
was  Azariah  C.  Flagg,  whose  long  connection  with  the  Albany 
Regency,  and  whose  distinguished  services  as  Comptroller  of 
the  State,  have  already  been  adverted  to.  Mr.  Flagg  was  a 
life-long  friend  of  Mr.  Tilden's,  and  a  follower  of  the  same  po 
litical  school. 

When  the  election-returns  were  counted,  it  was  found  that 
Mr.  Flagg  had  a  small  majority,  the  vote  standing  20,313  for 
Flagg,  and  20,134  for  Giles.  The  seekers  after  profitable 
jobs  from  the  public  had  counted  with  the  utmost  certainty 
upon  Giles's  election.  They  knew  perfectly  well  that,  if  Mr. 
Flagg  went  into  office,  the  fraudulent  bills  which  they  had 
presented  would  not  be  audited.  They  found  the  cheering 
prospect  of  a  fortune  dissipated  by  so  trivial  a  matter  as  179 
votes.  A  defeat  which  came  so  close  to  victory  was  more 
than  humiliating — it  was  exasperating.  They  finally  hit  upon 
the  idea  of  disputing  the  legality  of  Mr.  Flagg's  election. 
They  resolved  to  continue  the  fight  in  court.  The  small 
Democratic  majority  seemed  to  Mr.  Giles  and  his  friends  10 
afford  opportunity  for  a  contest.  They  accordingly  began  to 
prosecute  a  quo  warranto  to  test  Mr.  Flagg's  title  to  the 
office.  The  case  came  before  Judge  Emott,  in  the  Supreme 
Court. 

In  the  Nineteenth  Ward  it  was  certified  that  the  returns 
gave  Mr.  Flagg  316  votes  and  Mr.  Giles  186.  Mr.  Giles's 
friends  asserted  that  this  vote  was  illegally  recorded,  as  there 
had  been  a  clerical  error,  the  316  votes  having  been  credited 
to  Mr.  Flagg,  when  they  should  have  been  given  for  Mr. 
Giles,  and  the  186  were  really  deposited  for  Mr.  Flagg.  In 
proof  of  this,  Mr.  Giles's  attorney  produced  one  of  the  inspect 
ors  of  the  election — a  trustworthy  man,  according  to  public 
repute — who  swore  to  the  returns  corresponding  to  the  altered 
tally-sheets.  Another  inspector  partially  supported  this  tes 
timony,  while  it  was  proved  by  other  evidence  that  the  third 


MR.  TILDEN  AS  A  LAWYER— THE  FLAGG   CASE.          59 

inspector  was  intoxicated  at  the  time  the  election-returns  were 
made.  A  clerk  of  the  poll  was  also  produced,  who  sustained 
the  foregoing  testimony.  Several  other  witnesses  testified  to 
being  present  when  the  result  of  the  election  was  proclaimed, 
and  made  a  memorandum  of  it  in  their  note-books,  which  cor 
responded  to  the  facts  sworn  to  by  the  first  election-inspector. 
Thus  the  contestant's  attorney  seemed  to  have  secured  all  the 
testimony  possible  in  the  case,  and  to  have  made  it  useful 
only  on  his  side ;  while  the  defense  was  left  without  proof,  or 
the  advantage  of  weak  testimony,  when  it  came  to  cross- 
examination. 

To  aggravate  this  condition  of  the  testimony  available  in 
the  case,  it  appeared  that  the  tally  of  the  regular  votes  had 
disappeared,  or  at  least  could  not  be  produced  in  court,  and 
so  this  had  to  be  supplied  by  recollection  and  collateral  tallies. 
The  tally  of  split  votes,  which  comprised  three  foolscap  sheets, 
showed  the  original  canvass  of  split  votes  and  transfers  from 
the  tally  of  the  regular  vote,  giving  the  aggregate  and  the 
number  of  votes  each  candidate  had  received.  These  split 
tallies  and  the  transfers  of  the  regular  tally  corroborated  the 
testimony  of  the  witnesses  for  the  contestant,  leaving  the  case 
destitute  of  the  barest  shadow  of  evidence  upon  which  the 
defense  might  build  an  argument. 

Such  was  the  situation  when  Mr,  Tilden  opened  the  defense 
for  Mr.  Flagg.  He  determined  to  employ  the  testimony  of 
the  prosecution  for  the  defense.  He  compared  the  tallies  and 
the  transfers,  and  devised  fr,om  this  comparison  a  means  of 
reconstructing  the  regular  tallies  that  were  lost.  His  line  of 
reasoning  was  this :  There  being  twelve  officers  to  vote  for, 
whenever  a  regular  candidate  had  received  a  vote  on  the 
regular  ticket  the  other  eleven  must  have  received  the  same 
vote.  With  this  fundamental  idea  he  went  through  the  com 
binations,  the  results  of  which  appeared  partially  on  the  split 
tallies  and  the  transfers.  By  means  of  these  combinations, 
eighty-four  in  number,  Mr.  Tilden  succeeded  in  reproducing 
the  missing  tallies.  These  results  completely  overthrew  the 


60  THE   LIFE   OF   SAMUEL   J.  TILDEN. 

basis  of  the  argument  of  the  prosecution,  and  demonstrated 
that  the  testimony  of  their  witnesses  was  based  upon  a  for 
gery.  Mr.  Tilden  produced  printed  copies  of  his  reconstructed 
tallies,  and  went  over  them  in  thorough  review  before  the 
court  and  the  jury,  until  he  had  convinced  them  of  the  impos 
sibility  of  the  transfers  alleged  in  the  returns,  and  had  shown 
them  that  the  case  for  the  prosecution  had  been  based  upon  a 
fabrication. 

In  fifteen  minutes  after  the  case  was  given  to  the  jury, 
they  returned  with  a  verdict  in  favor  of  Mr.  Tilden's  client. 

The  original,  bold,  and  sure  principle  by  which  Mr.  Tilden 
won  this  case  was  set  forth  in  his  address  to  the  court  and 
jury  : 

Tf,  by  a  violent  blow  (lie  said),  I  should  break  out  the  corner  of 
tins  table,  split  a  piece  off,  the  fractured  and  abraded  fibres  of  the 
wood  would  be  left  in  forms  so  peculiar  that  though  all  human  in 
genuity  might  be  employed  to  fashion  a  piece  that  would  fit  in  the 
place  from  which  the  fragment  had  been  broken,  it  could  not  be 
done.  These  things  that  are  the  work  of  God  are  so  much  superior 
in  texture  to  anything  we  can  do,  that  when  they  are  broken  up  our 
ingenuity  cannot  restore  them. 

There  is  doubtless  some  difficulty,  occasionally,  in  interpreting 
this  sort  of  evidence,  or  rather  in  ascertaining  enough  of  the  asso 
ciated  facts  to  found  your  reasoning  upon.  And,  when  you  think  you 
have  to  meet  a  fabricated  testimony,  what  you  have  to  do  is  to  study 
all  the  other  facts  and  all  their  relations  to  the  particular  facts  in 
question,  so  that  you  can  spread  out  a  full  map  of  the  fabricated  tes 
timony  in  equal  detail.  If,  after  all  this  has  been  done,  patiently  and 
thoroughly,  if  the  lie  escape  the  ordeal,  I  shall  believe  that  the  God 
of  justice  and  truth  has  not  well  constructed  the  work  of  his  hands. 

The  great  issues  at  stake  in  this  case  made  the  success  of 
such  a  bold  but  resolute  course  to  rest  altogether  upon  the 
courage  and  insight  of  the  man  who  could  plan  and  undertake 
it.  If  Mr.  Tilden  had  lost  the  case,  the  supporters  of  Mr. 
Giles  intended  to  secure  the  auditing  of  a  vast  amount  of 
fraudulent  bills  which  Mr.  Flagg  had  refused  to  audit.  The 


MR.  TILDEN   AS  A   LAWYER— THE  FLAGG   CASE.          61 

conspiracy  to  keep  Mr.  Flagg  from  the  office  of  Comptroller 
was  indicative  of  the  corrupt  practices  that  would  have  been 
imposed  upon  the  government  of  the  city  had  the  case  been 
gained  for  Mr.  Giles. 

The  ingenuity,  courage,  and  strength,  shown  by  Mr.  Tilden 
in  this  case  placed  him  at  once  at  the  height  of  legal  distinc 
tion.  Mr.  Charles  O'Conor  said  of  Mr.  Tilden's  participation 
in  this  case  that  it  was  the  most  remarkable  intellectual  effort 
he  had  ever  witnessed.  That  Mr.  Tilden  rendered  this  ser 
vice  for  Mr.  Flagg  gratuitously,  only  enhances  the  value  of 
the  legal  distinction  which  he  gained  in  the  case. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE      BUEDELL      CASE. 

A  CASE  requiring*  greater  legal  skill  and  a  more  profound 
insight  into  the  relations  of  different  phases  of  truth  than  the 
Flagg  case  was  the  famous  Cunningham-Burdell  case,  in 
which  Mr.  Tilden  participated  as  leading  attorney  for  the 
contestants.  The  case  at  the  time  aroused  great  excitement, 
and,  although,  when  Mr.  Tilden  and  his  colleagues  plunged 
into  the  facts  pertaining  to  it,  there  seemed  to  be  an  over 
whelming  mass  of  testimony  against  them,  the  final  adjudica 
tion  of  the  affair  was  in  accord  with  popular  opinion. 

Dr.  Harvey  Burdell,  a  dentist  living  in  his  own  house 
at  No.  31  Bond  Street,  New  York  City,  was  murdered  on  the 
1st  of  February,  1857.  A  coroner's  inquest  was  held,  and  it 
was  found  that  the  deceased  came  to  his  death  by  murder, 
but  committed  by  whom  it  was  impossible  to  determine. 
The  preparations  for  the  burial  were  consummated,  when,  to 
the  great  surprise  of  all  who  had  been  interested  or  excited, 
a  woman,  up  to  that  time  supposed  to  be  no  more  than  a 
middle-aged,  dashing  widow,  by  the  name  of  Cunningham, 
was  sprung  upon  the  startled,  grief-stricken  friends  and  rela 
tives  as  the  wife  of  Dr.  Burdell  by  a  secret  marriage. 

This  surprise  created  some  consternation,  but  soon  resulted 
in  a  sober  reaction  that  set  measures  on  foot  to  repel  the  fond 
insinuations  and  wifely  claims  of  Mrs.  Cunningham. 

This  woman,  Emma  Augusta  Cunningham,  was  a  buxom, 
well-preserved  woman,  in  her  thirty -fifth  year,  the  mother  of 
a  large  family,  among  whom  were  her  two  full-grown  daugh 
ters,  Helen  and  Augusta,  who  were  principal  witnesses  in  the 


THE  BURDELL   CASE.  63 

trial  which  ensued.  Mrs.  Cunningham  was  a  woman  of  doubt 
ful  friendships,  giv-en  to  intrigues  and  deceits,  but  adroit  and 
resolute  withal,  so  that,  once  given  the  proper  invitation,  she 
could  easily  cast  so  strong  and  fine  a  net  about  the  victim  of 
her  charms  that  he  would  fall  a  prey  to  her  wishes.  She  was 
considered  rich  and  attractive,  and  was  well  received  in  cer 
tain  society,  for  the  graces  of  her  person  and  the  agreeable- 
ness  of  her  conversation.  Her  moral  character  was  more  for 
tunate  in  public  esteem  than  in  actual  conduct ;  but,  whatever 
her  amours  while  a  respectable  widow  and  the  mother  of  two 
lovely  daughters  old  enough  to  go  into  society,  they  were 
never  offensively  open,  and  appear  to  have  been  so  secret  that 
they  never  afforded  any  delight  to  gossips  or  eavesdroppers. 

Dr.  Burdell  was  a  man  between  forty  and  fifty  years  of 
age,  a  bachelor,  considered  rich,  and  proud  of  such  a  reputa 
tion.  He  seems  to  have  been  a  man  of  indecisive  purpose, 
unfortunate  in  his  pledges  and  uncertain  in  their  fulfillment, 
not  particularly  immaculate  in  his  social  tendencies,  and  yet 
well  received  in  society,  not  as  a  hypocrite,  but  simply  as  a 
man  of  peculiarities  and  pardonable  eccentricities.  He  was 
anxious  to  gain  money,  and  niggardly  in  his  efforts  to  hoard 
it. 

Dr.  Burdell's  house  had  been  occupied  by  a  Mrs.  Jones, 
who  was  the  landlady  of  a  genteel  boarding-house.  Mrs.  Cun 
ningham  took  Mrs.  Jones's  place  and  made  the  usual  agree 
ment  of  a  tenant  with  a  landlord,  and  rented  a  portion  of 
his  house  at  eight  hundred.. dollars  a  year.  Their  relations 
to  all  outward  observation  were  always  those  of  a  bachelor 
and  a  widow,  a  landlord  and  a  tenant.  No  one  had  the  slight 
est  ground  for  suspecting  that  they  were  man  and  wife  until 
one  was  murdered  and  the  other  put  on  the  weeds  and  habili 
ments  of  deep  affliction. 

Mr.  Tilden's  connection  with  the  affair  was  after  the  trial 
of  Mrs.  Cunningham  and  her  daughters  for  the  murder  of  Dr. 
Burdell.  They  were  found  "  not  guilty  "  upon  a  lack  of  proof 
against  them,  rather  than  for  plausible  proof  that  they  could 


64  THE  LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.  TILDEX. 

be  innocent.  When  Mr.  Tilden  assumed  the  defense  of  Dr. 
BurdeH's  relations  and  next  of  kin  to  resist  Mrs.  Cunning 
ham's  application  for  letters  of  administration  and  her  widow's 
third,  the  premises  were  full  of  doubt.  All  the  affirmative 
testimony,  by  the  minister  who  officiated  at  the  marriage 
ceremony,  the  marriage  certificate,  the  daughter  of  Mrs.  Cun 
ningham,  and  the  servants  of  the  house,  seemed  to  be  invin 
cible.  The  negative  could  do  but  little  else  than  stagger  un 
der  the  burden  of  proof.  They  had  no  testimony  that  could 
be  adduced  to  any  effect.  The  only  issue  of  the  matter 
seemed  to  be  a  futile  effort  to  repudiate  the  claims  of  Mrs. 
Cunningham,  and  then  witness  her  unimpeded  triumph  at  law 
and  enjoyment  of  the  property  to  which  her  title  at  best  was 
darkly  clouded. 

A  great  lawyer  is  not  only  learned  in  the  law,  so  that 
when  the  facts  are  laid  before  him  he  may  take  up  the  dry, 
tough  problem,  putting  this  fact  with  that,  multiplying  and 
dividing  as  the  law  lays  down  the  rule,  and  demonstrating 
with  mathematical  precision  the  legal  conclusion  of  which  the 
facts  are  the  premises ;  but  the  great  lawyer  is  able  also  to 
create,  to  make  order  where  only  chaos  has  reigned  hitherto, 
to  lay  down  the  principles  that  prove  the  symmetry  and  har 
mony  of  truth,  to  be  himself  the  tribunal  which  puts  good 
with  good,  true  with  true,  and  the  false  with  false.  Such  a 
lawyer  is  Mr.  Tilden.  His  plan  of  action  in  the  Cunningham- 
Burdell  suit  was  one  that  is  rarely  adopted  by  the  legal  pro 
fession.  The  circumstantial  probabilities  of  the  whole  matter 
indicated  to  his  own  mind  that  Mrs.  Cunningham  was  not  only 
not  the  wife  of  Dr.  Burdell  by  any  marriage,  public  or  private, 
but  that  she  was  guilty  of  his  murder.  This  opinion  he  vent 
ured  to  express  in  his  conduct  of  the  defense.  Such  was  the 
corroborative  appearance  of  the  testimony  for  the  claimant, 
that  there  was  no  hope  for  any  successful  effort  to  break  it 
down  by  negative  testimony  alone — there  was  none  upon  the 
vital  points  of  the  case.  There  were  really  the  appearance  and 
conviction  of  every  proof  necessary  to  establish  a  case  for  the 


THE   BURDELL  CASE.  65 

claimant.  The  only  way  to  defeat  her  was  to  strike  at  the 
vulnerable  points  of  her  evidence,  and  throw  her  assertions 
into  confusion.  Mr.  Tilden  determined  to  make  a  complete 
and  thorough  concordance  of  every  statement  and  fact  intro 
duced  into  the  case,  and  this  he  did,  relying  upon  the  affinity 
between  different  fragments  of  truth.  With  extraordinary 
skill  and  deftness  he  traced  lines  of  testimony  into  the  deep 
est,  most  complicated,  and  perplexed  phases  of  fabrication, 
and  gradually,  with  a  lawyer's  patience,  unwove  the  texture 
of  falsehood  and  pretense,  until  the  truth  came  to  light,  and 
the  case  was  won  for  the  defense. 

Rev.  Uriah  Marvin  was  so  positive  that  the  man  whom  he 
married  to  Mrs.  Cunningham,  at  his  residence,  No.  732  Green 
wich  Street,  in  the  evening  of  October  28,  1856,  and  the  body 
of  Dr.  Burdell  were  identical,  that  he  gave  his  testimony 
several  times  substantially  unmodified,  and  compelled  belief 
in  the  truth  of  his  statements.  Miss  Augusta  Cunningham, 
who  was  the  only  witness  of  the  alleged  marriage,  was  evi 
dently  most  innocently  sincere  in  the  belief  that  her  mother 
had  been  married  secretly  to  Dr.  Burdell.  To  her  there  was 
not  a  single  question  of  doubt.  All  the  details  of  the  wed 
ding — gloves,  ring,  side-whiskers,  conversation,  dress,  under 
clothes,  demeanor,  conduct,  and  the  innumerable  other  inci 
dentals  of  the  occasion — were  indelibly  fixed  in  her  mind, 
and  her  testimony  under  cross-examination  found  her  recol 
lection  of  them  impregnable.  Other  trustworthy  witnesses 
testified  to  seeing  Dr.  Burdell  and  two  ladies,  presumably 
Mrs.  Cunningham  and  her  daughter  Augusta,  on  the  streets 
the  night  of  the  alleged  marriage,  and  that  they  were  ap 
parently  destined  for  Greenwich  Street ;  that  both  the  doctor 
and  Mrs.  Cunningham  mentioned  their  marriage  to  friends 
under  promise  of  secrecy  ;  that  he  was  kind  to  her  at  times, 
and  again  rude ;  that  they  cohabited  as  man  and  wife  ;  in 
tended  to  go  to  Europe  the  following  summer;  and  other 
points,  more  or  less  essential. 

In  the  face  of  this  testimony  Mr.  Tilden  carefully  picked 


(56  THE   LIFE   OF   SAMUEL   J.  TILDEN. 

out  and  assorted  the  various  facts  given  in  evidence,  and  con 
structed  from  them  a  general  theory  of  what  the  actual  rela 
tions  of  these  facts  were.  From  this  it  was  found  that  a 
personation  was  made  of  Dr.  Burdell,  and  that  this  persona 
tion,  in  company  with  the  daughter  Augusta,  was  party  to 
the  marriage  performed  by  Rev.  Uriat  Marvin  ;  that  Dr.  Bur- 
dell  was  in  Herkimer,  N.  Y.,  on  the  27th  of  October,  the  day 
before  the  wedding,  when,  according  to  the  claimant's  testi 
mony,  he  was  in  New  York  City,  and  on  the  evening  of  the 
28th  was  in  the  city  of  Brooklyn ;  that  in  the  three  months 
subsequent  to  the  alleged  marriage  Dr.  Burdell  renewed 
abandoned  lawsuits  against  Mrs.  Cunningham  with  fresh 
energy,  declaring  that  she  must  get  out  of  his  house,  for  she 
was  an  indecent,  unprincipled  woman,  and  he  would  shelter 
her  no  longer;  and  that  he  made  all  necessary  writings  to 
lease  his  house  to  another  woman. 

One  hundred  and  fifty-two  witnesses  were  examined,  and, 
when  the  testimony  had  all  passed  through  Mr.  Tilden's  as 
similating  process,  there  was  not  a  shred  of  presumption  in 
favor  of  the  claimant.  Mr.  Tilden  began  to  sum  up  the  argu 
ment  of  the  case,  at  six  in  the  evening,  and  continued  till  ten 
o'clock;  resumed  on  the  following  morning  at  ten,  and  con 
cluded  at  two  in  the  afternoon.  The  surrogate's  decision, 
which  was  a  most  careful  and  just  one,  it  is  hardly  required 
to  say,  gave  Mr.  Tilden's  clients  the  case,  and  Mrs.  Cunning 
ham  not  only  did  not  receive  letters  of  administration,  but 
lost  every  pretext  to  widowhood  under  the  name  of  Burdell. 

No  law-case  with  which  Mr.  Tilden  has  been  associated 
ever  brought  his  name  so  prominently  before  the  public  as 
this.  The  intense  interest  which  was  felt  in  the  trial  of  Mrs. 
Cunningham,  and  the  mystery  which  enveloped  the  Bond 
Street  tragedy,  combined  to  make  the  lawyers  engaged  in 
the  case  known  throughout  the  country.  Mr.  Tilden's  success 
gave  rise  to  the  belief  that,  had  he  conducted  the  case  for  the 
prosecution  when  Mrs.  Cunningham  was  under  indictment  for 
murder,  she  would  undoubtedly  have  been  convicted.  It  is  at 


THE  BURDELL   CASE.  67 

least  certain  that  none  of  Mr.  Tilden's  previous  cases  had 
called  for  the  exercise  of  such  rare  metaphysical  powers,  or 
for  such  deep  penetration  of  character.  His  defense  was  a 
creation.  Yet  while  he  exhibited  transcendent  professional 
ability,  he  did  not  win  this  case,  nor  has  he  ever  won  any  of 
the  great  cases  with  which  his  name  has  since  been  associated, 
merely  as  a  lawyer.  It  is  because  his  professional  endowments 
represent  such  a  limited  proportion  of  his  greatness,  that  the 
public  seldom  thinks  of  him  as  a  lawyer.  One  who  knows 
him  says : 

Mr.  Tilden  won  these  suits  by  the  happy  combination  and  exer 
cise  of  qualities  which  are  not  the  exclusive  or  peculiar  property  of 
any  particular  profession;  he  is  a  political  economist;  he  is  a  logi 
cian  ;  he  is  a  politician ;  he  is  a  man  of  the  world.  He  is,  besides,  a 
great  lawyer.  In  a  trial,  therefore,  Mr.  Tilden  brings  many  resources 
which  are  far  from  common,  even  among  the  most  eminent  lawyers. 
It  was  this  superiority  and  breadth  of  development  which  early  in 
his  professional  career  made  his  office  tbe  favorite  resort  of  large 
numbers  of  the  great  railway  corporations  of  the  country,  which  for 
some  years  immediately  preceding  the  war  were  beset  with  the  trou 
bles  consequent  upon  a  management  more  or  less  corrupt  or  indis 
creet.  His  success  in  all  these  great  cases  was  due,  not  so  much  to  a 
knowledge  and  appreciation  of  the  principles  of  law,  as  to  his  famil 
iarity  with  those  broader  principles  of  the  science  of  government, 
legislation,  and  finance,  of  which  he  is  a  master.  He  dealt  with  all 
such  questions  like  a  statesman  rather  than  like  a  lawyer.  In  no  case 
that  specially  engaged  his  attention  did  he  fail  to  show  originality  in 
his  treatment,  and  a  fertility  of  resource  which  rendered  him  meas 
urably  independent  of  precedents  and  authorities. 


CHAPTER  X. 


THE  Flagg  case  and  the  Burdell-Cunningham  case  attest 
Mr.  Tildeti's  greatness  as  a  lawyer  of  mathematical  precision 
and  deep  penetration  of  character.  Another  great  case  re 
mains  to  show  his  faith  in  the  alliance  and  unity  of  all  truth  ; 
that  of  the  Delaware  &  Hudson  Canal  Company  against  the 
Pennsylvania  Coal  Company. 

The  Pennsylvania  Coal  Company  had  a  contract  with  the 
Delaware  &  Hudson  Canal  Company  to  transport  their  coal 
on  the  canal  of  the  latter  company.  Among  other  things  in 
the  agreement  it  was  provided  by  the  Canal  Company  that 
the  Coal  Company  should  pay  extra  toll  for  the  use  of  their 
canal,  in  case  they  should  enlarge  it  and  reduce  the  expense 
of  transportation.  The  Canal  Company  in  due  time  presented 
their  claim  for  extra  toll,  which  was  met  by  the  denial  of  the 
Coal  Company  that  the  enlargement  of  the  canal  had,  in  any 
measure,  reduced  the  expense  of  transportation.  The  Canal 
Company  insisted  upon  their  right  under  the  contract  to  an 
increase  in  tolls  to  correspond  to  the  increased  facility  of 
transportation.  The  Coal  Company  remained  fixed  in  the 
opinion  that  the  enlargement  of  the  canal  had  done  them  no 
good,  and  refused  to  accept  the  claim.  After  a  long  corre 
spondence  that  yielded  no  advantage  or  comfort  to  either  side 
of  the  controversy,  the  Canal  Company  brought  suit  against 
the  Coal  Company.  Mr.  Tilden  was  retained  for  the  defense, 
and  the  suit  was  tried  before  Judge  Hogeboom  of  the  Su 
preme  Court,  sitting  as  referee.  The  plaintiffs  presented  an 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA   COAL   COMPANY'S  CASE.  69 

encyclopaedia  of  evidence  that  occupied  the  attorneys  and  the 
judge  more  than  two  months  in  hearing. 

The  point  at  issue  in  the  trial  was,  whether  the  enlarge 
ment  of  the  canal  had  rendered  transportation  cheaper  than  it 
had  been  prior  to  its  enlargement.  This  question  involved  a 
comparison  of  the  efficiency  of  the  enlarged  canal  and  the 
smaller  one  previous  to  the  enlargement,  and  the  settlement 
of  the  greater  economy  of  one  or  the  other.  The  many  com 
plex  questions  of  canal  transportation,  that  harass  all  calcula 
tion  upon  the  subject,  abounded  in  this  case.  The  variety 
and  sizes  of  coals,  the  different  amount  of  burden,  the  lading 
and  unlading,  the  wash  of  the  canal,  the  amount  of  water — 
such  questions  confused  the  principle  and  facts  of  the  case, 
and  called  forth  a  host  of  witnesses. 

Mr.  Tilden's  plan  of  action  in  the  case  took  court  and 
counsel  by  surprise,  and  demolished  the  testimony  of  the  plain 
tiffs.  It  was  simple  enough  in  the  idea,  but  unheard  of  in 
practice.  He  took  careful  statistics  of  a  single  trip  on  the 
canal  as  an  integer  by  which  to  test  the  claims  of  the  plain 
tiffs.  It  required  a  resolute  and  courageous  man  to  undertake 
such  a  course,  for  it  involved  a  great  outlay  of  time  and  money 
on  the  part  of  the  defense  in  a  venture  that  would  have  been 
utterly  lost  if  it  had  demonstrated  the  validity  of  the  plain 
tiffs'  claim  as  effectually  as  it  did  the  soundness  of  the  defend 
ants'  denial.  To  more  fully  explain  the  theory  and  practice 
of  this  course,  a  passage  from  Mr.  Tilden's  recapitulation  is 
given  : 

At  quite  a  late  stage,  comparatively,  in  this  case,  when  I  inter 
vened  and  undertook  to  ascertain  the  relative  time  of  the  trip,  I  did, 
as  I  always  would,  if  possible,  in  such  a  case — I  endeavored  to  sim 
plify  the  controversy  by  applying  a  test  which  made  all  this  part  and 
many  other  parts  of  the  discussion  unnecessary.  I  took  a  simple 
integer  with  which  to  compare  the  time  of  the  trip  upon  the  old 
canal  and  the  time  of  a  trip  upon  the  enlarged  canal.  The  number 
of  trips  a  boat  would  make  during  a  season  of  navigation  was  sub 
ject  to  be  varied  by  causes  affecting  the  length  of  the  seasons — by 


70  THE  LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.   TILDEN. 

the  question  whether  navigation  was  for  179,  or  185,  or  any  other 
number  of  days.  It  was  also  subject  to  be  affected  by  the  question 
whether  the  boat  was  all  the  season  in  use  upon  the  canal,  or  was 
part  of  the  season  running  upon  the  river.  It  was  subject  to  other 
elements  of  disturbance  and  irregularity.  I  discarded  it  and  took  a 
single  trip  as  the  integer,  and  made  my  computations,  as  later  in  the 
day  I  shall  endeavor  to  show  your  honor,  upon  the  time  of  the  trip 
considered  singly — causing  to  be  examined  and  computed  every  trip 
made  by  the  plaintiffs'  boats  in  a  period  of  four  years  upon  the  old 
canal,  and  a  period  of  four  years  upon  the  enlarged  canal,  every  trip 
of  which  the  books  of  the  plaintiffs  give  a  complete  record — and 
from  them  deduced  an  average  time  which  I  computed  as  the  time  of 
a  single  trip  and  made  my  integer.  I  was  therefore  enabled  to  dis 
miss  altogether  from  my  investigation  the  question  whether  this  par 
ticular  canal-boat  No.  1  was  upon  the  canal  the  whole  season,  or  six 
months,  or  three  months,  or  one  month,  or  for  how  long  a  period  it 
was  upon  the  river.  I  got  as  my  result  what  that  boat  did  while 
and  whenever  it  was  actually  upon  the  canal. 

It  may  have  been  unfortunate  that  this  mode  of  treating  the 
question  did  not  receive  earlier  and  more  general  attention ;  for  the 
habit  formed  of  talking  about  the  small  number  of  trips  made  by 
the  boats  on  the  enlarged  canal  as  resulting  from  the  employment 
of  the  boat  for  certain  days,  or  certain  parts  of  the  season,  upon 
the  river  and  not  upon  the  canal,  has  survived  all  necessity  for  the 
discussion  of  any  such  facts. 

I  advised  our  clients  to  tabulate  and  ascertain  the  time  of  the 
trips  of  all  the  boats  during  the  entire  period  between  the  notifica 
tion  of  the  completion  of  the  enlargement  and  the  commencement 
of  this  suit,  taking  the  navigation  seasons  in  which  these  events  hap 
pened  as  complete  seasons,  and  having  a  fraction  before  and  after 
these  two  dates,  and  to  make  a  similar  tabulation  in  respect  to  the 
boats  on  the  small  canal  for  an  equal  period. 

It  certainly  took  all  the  influence  I  had — and  pretty  nearly  ex 
hausted  it — to  get  this  done,  because  it  was  a  pretty  large  job.  You 
have,  sir,  in  these  tables  equal  to  at  least  twelve  years  of  the  labor 
of  a  single  man.  You  can  read  and  perceive  results  here,  in  five 
minutes,  which,  if  the  whole  thirty-two  volumes  of  the  plaintiffs' 
books  were  brought  into  court,  and  your  honor  should  spend  the 
next  twelve  years  in  examining  them,  you  would  scarcely  discover. 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  COAL   COMPANY'S  CASE.  71 

That  was  a  laborious  and  costly  process.  Perhaps  it  might  appear 
now  to  be  unnecessary.  It  was  intended  to  be  decisive.  It  is,  I 
think,  decisive. 

I  remember  an  anecdote  which  ex-President  Van  Buren  once  told 
me  of  John  Randolph.  Somebody  was  speaking  to  him  in  a  com 
plimentary  vein  in  reference  to  a  debate  in  the  House  of  Represent 
atives,  and  told  him  that  a  speech  of  his  had  not  been  answered. 
"  Answered,  sir !  "  said  he  ;  "  it  was  not  made  to  be  answered."  And 
so,  sir,  these  tables  were  not  made  to  be  confuted.  They  are  made 
according  to  the  best  process  of  scientific  analysis,  proved  step  by 
step  from  the  records  of  the  plaintiffs  themselves,  and  are  introduced 
here  in  strict  conformity  to  the  rules  of  evidence. 

They  will  establish  and  do  establish  the  proposition  they  were  in 
tended  to  determine — when  I  did  not  know,  and  nobody  knew,  what 
the  result  of  the  investigation  would  be.  Never,  sir,  anywhere,  or 
on  any  other  occasion,  was  there  such  a  body  of  evidence  upon  any 
such  question  involved  in  litigation. 

Mr.  Tilden  established  from  these  tables  the  details  of 
transportation  on  the  Delaware  &  Hudson  Canal  Company's 
canal.  Among  them  the  most  important  was  that  of  the  dura 
tion  of  a  single  trip,  and  of  the  length  of  the  boating  season. 
These  he  fixed  beyond  the  possibility  of"  doubt,  from  the 
books  and  tables  of  the  Canal  Company  itself.  The  principle 
at  stake  in  the  premises  of  the  case  being  established,  he  de 
duced  the  intermediate  chain  of  reasoning.  He  showed  that 
the  round  trip  on  the  enlarged  canal  took  forty  per  cent, 
more  time  than  the  small  boats  on  the  unenlarged  canal,  and 
that,  by  diminishing  the  whole  amount  of  labor  during  a  given 
time,  the  real  cost  of  transportation  was  enhanced.  This 
proved  that  the  Coal  Company,  instead  of  reaping  an  advan 
tage  from  the  enlargement  of  the  canal,  had  suffered  loss.  The 
verdict  was  accordingly  rendered  in  favor  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Coal  Company. 

The  amount  at  stake  in  the  trial  was  no  small  one.  The 
Canal  Company  claimed  twenty  cents  a  ton  on^an  annual 
transportation  of  six  hundred  thousand  tons  a  year  for  nearly 
ten  years,  and  a  royalty  of  the  same  amount  per  ton  annually 


72  THE   LIFE   OF   SAMUEL   J.  TILDEN. 

for  the  future.  The  claim  would  have  been  a  disastrous  one 
to  the  Coal  Company  if  it  had  been  sustained,  and  it  thrust 
the  crisis  of  their  business  career  entirely  upon  their  ability 
to  prove  an  intricate  and  difficult  proposition.  The  course  of 
action  resorted  to  by  Mr.  Tilden  saved  them  from  disaster,  and 
established  justice  in  the  controversy.  Mr.  Tilden's  success 
in  this  case,  as  in  those  already  narrated,  was  the  result  of  his 
faith  in  the  almost  mathematical  consistency  of  truth  and  his 
insight  into  its  relations,  and  courage  in  planting  himself  and 
his  cause  upon  its  steadfastness. 


CHAPTER  XL 

THE   TEHEE    HAUTE,    ALTON   &    ST.    LOUIS    RAILROAD    CASE. 


Mr.  Tilden's  long  and  extensive  law-practice  it 
was  his  rare  good  fortune  to  gain  and  retain  the  confidence 
of  every  person  who  became  his  client.  Certain  rules  gov 
erned  his  professional  life.  He  never  took  a  fee  which  his 
client  was  unable  or  unwilling  to  pay  ;  he  never  took  a  con 
tingent  fee  —  that  is,  a  fee  depending  on  the  amount  which  he 
might  recover  ;  he  never  sued  a  client  for  "services  rendered. 
It  may  be  truthfully  added  that  in  almost  all  cases  his  clients 
pronounced  his  fees  too  small,  and,  in  more  than  one  instance, 
they  urged  him  to  accept  more  than  he  had  charged  —  a  thing 
which  he,  being  a  pensioner  on  nobody's  bounty,  invariably 
refused  to  do. 

It  is  safe  to  say  that  no  other  lawyer  in  the  United  States 
possesses  a  cleaner  and  purer  professional  record  than  Mr. 
Tilden.  Yet,  strangely  enough,  almost  the  only  personal 
charge  preferred  against  him,  in  the  heat  of  an  exciting  can 
vass,  rests  on  the  perversion  of  a  case  in  which  he  was  retained 
as  a  lawyer  —  the  Terre  Haute,  Alton  &  St.  Louis  Railroad 
case.  His  conduct  of  that  case  was  as  honorable  and  honest 
as  the  most  exacting  critic  could  desire.  Nay,  more,  in  his 
dealings  with  that  road  he  displayed  a  spirit  of  generosity,  of 
self-sacrifice,  of  consideration  for  the  welfare  of  others,  which 
is  not  often  fojmd  among  those  trained  to  strict  professional 
rules.  But  let  the  whole  history  of  the  case  be  told,  and  the 
reader  may  be  left  to  judge  whether  or  not  Mr.  Tilden  requires 
any  defense  at  the  hands  of  his  friends. 

In  1859,  when  Mr.  Tilden  was  practising  law  in  the  city 
4 


7^  THE  LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

of  New  York,  very  many  insolvent  corporations  sought  his 
services  in  the  confident  belief  that  he  could  evolve  order  out 
of  the  chaos  into  which  mismanagement  had  hurled  them. 
Among  these  insolvent  corporations  was  the  Terre  Haute, 
Alton  &  St.  Louis  Railroad.  A  suit  against  Mr.  Tilden  and 
others  was  recently  instituted  by  a  company  bearing  the  same 
name,  but  deriving  its  title  from  a  different  source,  as  will  be 
seen  by  the  following  brief  history  . 

1.  Mr.  Tilden  was  induced  to  take  charge  of  the  case  in  behalf  of 
the  first  and  second  mortgage  bondholders.  These  bondholders  asso 
ciated  themselves  together  for  the  protection  of  their  own  interests, 
and  appointed  a  committee  consisting  of  Robert  Bayard,  Charles 
Butler,  Russell  Sage,  and  Samuel  J.  Tilden.  This  committee  was 
known  as  the  "  Purchasing  Committee,"  because  one*  of  the  main 
objects  of  their  appointment  was  to  purchase  the  railroad  at  a  fore 
closure  sale.  The  objects  of  the  association  were  defined  in  a  written 
agreement  which  was  printed,  published,  and  freely  distributed.  All 
the  first  and  second  mortgage  bondholders  were  invited  to  join  the 
association,  and  all  who  sought  admission  were  admitted. 

At  this  point  it  is  to  be  observed  that  the  committee  were  the 
agents  of  the  bondholders  who  entered  into  the  agreement,  and  of 
nobody  else.  In  regard  to  all  others  they  occupied  the  position  of  an 
adversary  rather  than  of  a  representative.  They  were  not  agents  of 
the  remaining  bondholders.  They  were  not  agents  of  the  other  cred 
itors  or  of  the  stockholders  of  the  old  company.  Still  less  were  they 
the  agents  of  the  present  company,  which  was  formed  three  years 
afterward,  which  they  dealt  with  and  which  dealt  with  them  as  inde 
pendent  and  even  adversary  parties. 

The  Purchasing  Committee  bought  the  railroad  of  the  insolvent 
corporation  at  a  mortgage  sale  under  a  decree  of  the  Circuit  Courts 
of  the  United  States.  They  made  the  purchase  in  their  individual 
capacity.  They  gave  their  individual  obligations  for  the  purchase- 
money  and  satisfied  those  obligations.  They  were  bound  by  their 
contract  to  deliver  to  the  bondholders  who  had  Centered  into  the 
agreement  certain  new  securities,  which  they  delivered.  They  were 
bound  to  pay  into  court,  for  the  benefit  of  bondholders  who  were 
not  parties  to  the  agreement,  the  cash  to  which  these  bondholders 
were  entitled  under  the  sale,  which  they  did. 

The  time  within  which  bondholders   could  avail  themselves  of 


THE  TERRE  HAUTE,  ALTON  &  ST.  LOUIS  RAILROAD.        75 

the  privileges  of  the  agreement  was  limited  by  the  agreement  itself 
to  a  period  of  sixty  days  after  May  1,  1861.  At  that  time,  and  at 
the  time  of  the  sale,  a  large  interest  had  not  become  parties  to  the 
agreement.  But  finding  that  those  who  had  entered  into  it  were  to 
profit  by  it  they  applied  for  admission,  and  the  purchasers  in  a  spirit 
of  the  most  liberal  equity  admitted  them.  They  admitted  some  as 
late  as  the  year  1868,  seven  years  after  the  limitation  had  expired; 
they  have  never  excluded  any ;  and  even  now  a  few  of  the  bonds 
have  never  appeared. 

2.  The  title  of  the  present  company  of  the  Terre  Haute,  Alton 
&  St.  Louis  Railroad  is  derived  from  a  deed  to  them  by  the  pur 
chasers  in  June,  1862,  more  than  fourteen  years  ago.     All  the  bonds 
and  stock  of  the  present  company  which  ever  came  into  the  hands 
of  the  Purchasing  Committee  were  delivered  to  them  absolutely,  in 
their  own  right,  as  the  consideration  for  the  railroad  and  property 
conveyed  to  the  present  company.     This  absolute  delivery  is  recited 
and  declared  in  the  deed,  and  the  deed  is  recorded  in  every  county 
of  Illinois  and  Indiana  through  which  the  road  passes.     Every  class 
of  securities  issued  by  the  road — its  first-mortgage  bonds,  its  second- 
mortgage  bonds,  its  preferred  stock,  and  common  stock — contains  a 
recital  of  the  securities  thus  delivered.     Moreover,  every  person  to 
whom  bonds  or  stocks  were  issued  as  to  an  original  holder  executed 
at  the  time  of  such  delivery  a  formal  ratification  of  this  arrange 
ment,  and  a  final  settlement,  and  a  full  and  absolute  release  to  the 
Purchasing  Committee. 

3.  The  Purchasing  Committee  have  never  received  any  compen 
sation  for  their  services  except  by  such  resulting  surplus  of  assets 
as  may  remain  after  all  settlements  are  completed  and  all  liabilities 
against  the  committee  are  satisfied. 

Mr.  Tilden  was  employed  as  Counsel  of  the  first-mortgage  bond 
holders,  of  the  second-mortgage  trustees,  who  were  in  actual  pos 
session  of  the  railroad,  and  for  the  receivers  appointed  by  the  Cir 
cuit  Courts  of  the  United  States  for  Indiana  and  Illinois.  His  ser 
vices  in  these  capacities  occupied  a  large  share  of  his  time  for  three 
and  a  half  years.  He  was  engaged  in  many  complicated  and  difficult 
negotiations  with  adverse  parties.  He  made  repeated  journeys  to 
the  West,  to  Terre  Haute,  to  Indianapolis,  to  Alton,  to  Springfield, 
and  to  St.  Louis.  He  conducted  the  foreclosure  suits  in  the  Circuit 
Court  of  the  United  States  for  Indiana,  and  in  the  Circuit  Court  of 
the  United  States  for  the  Southern  District  of  Illinois ;  obtained  the 


76  THE  LIFE  OF  SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

decrees  of  sale ;  attended  at  Alton  on  the  sale ;  argued  at  Springfield 
a  motion  for  an  injunction  to  stop  the  sale ;  obtained  its  dissolution, 
and  completed  the  sale.  He  also  drew  the  laws  necessary  to  be 
passed  in  Indiana  and  Illinois,  to  carry  out  the  objects  of  the  fore 
closure.  Mr.  Tilden  also  procured  from  the  United  States  courts 
in  Indiana  and  Illinois,  whither  he  went  for  that  purpose,  decrees 
clothing  the  trustees  in  possession  with  the  character  and  rights  of 
receivers. 

These  services  extended  over  a  period  of  three  years  and  a  half, 
and  occupied  a  large  part  of  Mr.  Tilden's  time.  He  received  from 
the  first-mortgage  bondholders  $10,000,  and  from  the  second-mort 
gage  bondholders  $10,000.  Considering  the  extent  of  this  profes 
sional  work  the  compensation  was  extremely  low. 

The  Purchasing  Committee  assumed  under  a  written  contract  a 
very  laborious,  troublesome,  and  onerous  work.  They  performed  it 
so  satisfactorily  that  not  one  of  the  bondholders  for  whom  they  acted 
has  ever  found  fault  with  them,  but,  on  the  contrary,  all  have  united 
in  expressions  of  gratitude.  They  found  the  first-mortgage  bonds  on 
the  road  of  the  Terre  Haute,  Alton  &  St.  Louis  Eailroad  Company 
selling  at  about  forty-five  cents  upon  the  dollar  of  their  principal, 
with  twenty-one  to  thirty-odd  per  cent,  of  overdue  interest,  and  they 
delivered,  in  exchange,  bonds  then  worth  nearly  par  of  principal  and 
interest,  and  now  commanding  a  premium.  The  second-mortgage 
bonds  were  sold  at  eighteen  cents  on  their  par  value — bearing  a  larger 
amount-  of  overdue  interest  than  their  market  price.  The  securities 
issued  in  exchange  (funding  the  overdue  interest)  would,  at  their 
present  market  value,  pay  more  than  125  on  the  par  of  the  old  bonds. 
They  found  the  inferior  securities,  discredited  by  years  of  default, 
selling  at  a  small  fraction  of  the  value  of  those  they  delivered  in  ex 
change,  and  at  not  more  than  a  quarter  or  an  eighth  of  what  these 
new  securities  now  bring,  notwithstanding  the  disastrous  competition 
of  new  lines,  to  which  the  company  has  been  so  peculiarly  sub 
jected,  and  notwithstanding  the  present  unusual  depression  in  rail 
road  investments.  They  admitted  to  the  equal  benefit  of  their 
agreement  those  who,  through  fear  or  ignorance,  had  failed  to  avail 
themselves  of  the  privilege  within  the  prescribed  time.  They  took 
an  insolvent  road  and  raised  its  value  from  less  than  two  millions 
to  more  than  six  millions.  If  there  be  any  surplus  in  their  hands 
it  has  resulted  from  their  care,  skill,  and  wisdom,  in  the  adminis 
tration  of  their  assets  through  a  series  of  years.  It  could  never 


THE  TERRE  HAUTE,  ALTON  &  ST.  LOUIS  RAILROAD.        77 

have  been  expected  that  they  would  incur  such  large  personal  lia 
bility,  risk,  and  trouble,  without  some  indemnity  and  some  compen 
sation,  and  they  had  a  perfect  right,  so  that  they  kept  their  obliga 
tions  to  everybody,  to  allow  compensation  to  themselves  in  formal 
manner,  or  to  use  or  apply  the  resulting  balance  as  a  compensation. 
Whatever  that  surplus  may  be,  is  a  matter  between  the  committee 
and  the  parties  for  whom  they  acted,  under  written  agreements. 
The  adversary  party,  to  whom  the  committee  sold  the  property  and 
took  securities  in  payment,  fourteen  years  ago,  has  no  shadow  of  claim 
in  law,  equity,  or  good  morals,  to  those  remaining  assets,  or  to  an 
account  for  their  use  or  disposal.  It  is  excluded  from  any  such 
claim  by  its  own  repeated  and  solemn  acts  and  agreements,  by  its  for 
mal  deeds  and  its  public  records. 

It  remains  to  be  told  that  during  eleven  years  from  1862 
to  1873  Mr.  Tilden  acted  as  counsel  for  the  present  corpora 
tion  of  the  Terre  Haute,  Alton  &  St.  Louis  Railroad.  These 
services  were  of  the  very  greatest  value,  for  on  more  than 
one  occasion  they  saved  the  road  from  insolvency.  But  Mr. 
Tilden  never  asked  nor  received  a  dollar  for  all  the  work  he 
performed  for  the  company  during  those  eleven  years. 

If  I  have  made  my  readers  understand  this  case,  they  will 
find  no  difficulty  in  disposing  of  any  other  calumnies  which 
may  be  heaped  upon  Mr.  Tilden's  head  in  connection  with  his 
professional  career. 

A  week  before  his  nomination  for  the  presidency  he 
showed  to  a  friend  three  letters  which  he  had  received  within 
a  few  days,  each  from  a  different  person,  but  all  alike  in  sub 
stance.  They  were  demands  for  money,  and  each  demand 
was  accompanied  with  a  threat  to  commence  a  suit  at  law  if 
the  money  was  not  forthcoming,  on  some  alleged  wrong  in 
directly  sustained  in  cases  in  which  Mr.  Tilden  had  been  re 
tained  on  the  other  side.  And  all  the  threats  were  empha 
sized  with  the  words,  "  You  cannot  afford  to  be  sued  at  this 
time." 

"  What  shall  I  do  with  these  letters  ?  "  he  asked. 

"  Turn  them  over  to  the  press  for  publication  as  specimen 
'  strikes.' " 


78  THE   LIFE   OF  SAMUEL   J.  T.TLDEN. 

"No,  no,"  said  Mr.  Tilden,  half  sadly.  "Let  the  poor 
fellows  go.  If  they  were  not  strangers  to  me,  they  would 
know  they  could  not  frighten  me ;  and,  if  they  are  as  poor  as 
they  say,  I  could  not  resist  their  appeals  if  they  did  not  ap 
proach  me  in  such  a  despicable  way." 


CHAPTER  XII. 

HIS   POSITION   DURING   THE    WAR. 

MR.  TILDEX,  although  he  had  withdrawn  himself  from 
active  participation  in  politics,  was  a  close  observer  of  events 
in  1860.  He  was  not  a  delegate  at  Charleston,  but  he  went 
to  Baltimore  as  a  delegate,  striving  in  vain  to  avert  the  dis 
ruption  of  the  Democratic  party.  After  the  election  of  Mr. 
Lincoln,  and  before  the  result  was  officially  announced,  South 
Carolina  prepared  to  secede  from  the  Union.  The  doctrine 
that  a  State  had  power  to  break  its  compact  with  the  Federal 
Government  was  a  doctrine  which  Mr.  Tilden  held  in  abhor 
rence.  He  had  been  trained  in  the  school  of  Andrew  Jack 
son.  His  earliest  intellectual  energy  was  directed  against 
nullification,  whereof  secession  was  the  ripened  fruit.  He 
had  studied  the  question  diligently,  and  his  opinions  were 
deeply  fixed  long  before  the  crisis  came.  '  He  knew  that 
secession  meant  war,  and  he  knew  better  than  some  hotter 
heads  what  war  meant.  He  loved  the  Union,  not  with  the 
narrow  love  of  the  sectionalist,  but  with  the  broad  love  of 
the  patriot.  He  sought,  therefore,  to  avert  the  impending 
calamity — the  calamity  which  a  Republican  statesman  who 
stands  to-day  very  high  in  the  counsels  of  his  party  unfeel 
ingly  denominated  "a  little  bloodletting."  Beyond  the 
"  little  bloodletting  "  he  saw  the  crimson  tide  swelling  and 
surging,  engulfing  the  best  lives  in  the  land  and  the  treasure 
of  the  people.  Peace  on  the  basis  of  the  Union,  and  on 
no  other  basis,  was  what  he  sought. 

During  the  winter  of  1860-'61,  he  attended  a  meeting  of 
the  leading  men  of  both  parties  in  the  city  of  New  York  to 


80  THE   LIFE  OF  SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

consider  what  measures  were  necessary  and  practicable  to 
avert  an  armed  collision  between  what  were  then  termed  the 
free  and  the  slave  States.  To  the  North  he  urged  reconcilia 
tion  and  forbearance,  appreciating  as  he  did  more  clearly  than 
most  of  those  around  him  the  fearful  and  disastrous  conse 
quences  of  a  civil  war,  whatever  might  prove  its  ultimate  re 
sult.  To  the  South  he  urged  a  deference  to  the  will  of  the 
majority,  and  a  respect  for  the  provisions  of  the  Federal  Con 
stitution,  within  which  they  would  be  sure  of  adequate  pro 
tection  for  themselves  and  for  their  property  ;  but  he  warned 
them  that  outside  of  the  Constitution  they  could  expect  pro 
tection  for  neither.  He  was  heard  to  warn  an  eminent 
Southern  statesman  that  if  the  South  expected  Northern 
Democrats  to  hold  the  Government  while  they  whipped  the 
North  it  was  mistaken  ;  if  war  came,  Northern  Democrats 
would  support  the  Government. 

The  actual  outbreak  of  hostilities  produced  a  deep  feeling 
through  all  the  North.  Mr.  Tilden  met  the  event  in  no 
craven  spirit.  To  a  Republican  who  put  the  rather  impudent 
question,  "  You  are  with  us,  ain't  you  ? "  he  answered, 
"  I  will  go  as  far  to  sustain  Abraham  Lincoln  as  I  would  to 
sustain  Andrew  Jackson  in  his  efforts  to  preserve  the  Union.'* 
Immediately  after  Mr.  Lincoln's  first  call  for  75,000  men,  a 
meeting  was  held  at  the  house  of  General  Dix,  at  which  Mr. 
Tilden  was  present.  He  declared  his  belief  that  the  Presi 
dent  had  made  a  mistake ;  that  instead  of  calling  for  75,000 
troops,  he  should  have  called  for  500,000.  They  could  have 
been  more  easily  obtained  in  the  first  flush  of  patriotic  excite 
ment  than  at  any  other  time.  One  half  of  the  soldiers  should 
have  been  used  for  immediate  service,  and  the  other  half  put 
in  camps  of  instruction  for  impending  exigencies.  The 
South,  seeing  what  preparations  for  a  gigantic  war  the  North 
was  making,  would  have  hesitated  before  all  was  lost.  The 
States  in  which  a  Union  sentiment  still  existed  would  have 
been  immediately  reclaimed.  The  force  of  numbers  would 
have  overpowered  the  remainder.  This  was  Mr.  Tilden's 


HIS  POSITION  DURING  THE   WAR.  81 

view  of  the  matter  in  1861,  but  his  advice  was  not  heeded 
then.  Nevertheless,  it  was  good  advice. 

Mr.  Tilden  was  present  at  the  great  war-meeting  in  Union 
Square,  April,  18G1.  He  was  told  that  his  name  would  be 
used  as  one  of  the  vice-presidents  of  the  meeting,  and  con 
sented  to  its  use.  For  some  reason,  best  known  to  those  who 
had  the  list  in  charge,  it  was  omitted.  Two  days  later  he 
took  part  in  a  war-meeting  held  by  the  members  of  the  bar. 
He  contributed  freely  of  his  means  toward  defraying  the  ex 
penses  of  the  regiments  which  were  sent  from  the  city.  To 
one  of  those  regiments  he  presented  a  flag  on  the  occasion  of 
its  departure  for  the  seat  of  war.  During  the  spring  and 
early  summer  of  1861  he  made  several  journeys  to  Washing 
ton  in  behalf  of  the  soldiers  who  sought  his  influence  with 
the  authorities. 

Mr.  Chase,  then  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  sent  for  Mr. 
Tilden  in  1862,  and  sought  his  advice.  What  that  advice 
was  every  reader  might  guess.  He  urged  that  the  war  might 
be  carried  on  under  a  system  of  sound  finance,  which  he  did 
not  doubt  that  the  people  would  sustain  if  the  Government 
would  have  the  courage  to  propose  it.  What  he  said  to  Mr. 
Chase,  in  a  more  definite  form  he  incorporated  into  his  first 
annual  message,  as  follows  : 

Governments,  in  times  of  public  danger,  cannot  be  expected  al 
ways  to  adhere  to  the  maxims  of  economical  science;  the  few  who 
would  firmly  trust  to  the  wisest  policy  will  be  often  overborne  by 
the  advocates  of  popular  expedients  dictated  by  general  alarm ;  if 
the  Federal  Government  had  paid  out  Treasury  notes,  not  made  a 
legal  tender,  in  its  own  transactions  whenever  it  was  convenient,  and 
redeemed  them  by  the  proceeds  of  loans  and  taxes  on  their  presen 
tation  at  a  central  point  of  commerce,  and  meanwhile  had  borrowed 
at  the  market  rates  for  its  bonds,  secured  by  ample  sinking-funds, 
founded  on  taxation,  and  had  supplemented  such  loans  by  all  neces 
sary  taxes,  the  sacrifices  would  not  have  been  half  that  required  by 
the  false  system  adopted ;  perhaps  the  cost  of  the  war  would  not  have 
been  half  what  it  became. 

When  Mr.  Stanton  was  appointed  to  the  War  Depart- 


82  THE   LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

ment,  he,  too,  sought  Mr.  Tilden's  advice.    The  two  had  been 
friends  in  other  years,  and  the  Secretary  reposed  great  faith 
in  Mr.  Tilden's  wisdom. 
He  said  to  Stanton  : 

You  have  no  right  to  expect  a  great  military  genius  to  come  to 
your  assistance.  They  only  appear  once  in  two  or  three  centuries. 
You  will  probably  have  to  depend  upon  the  average  military  talent 
of  the  country.  Under  such  circumstances  your  only  course  is  to 
avail  yourself  of  your  numerical  strength,  and  your  superior  military 
resources  resulting  from  your  greater  progress  in  industrial  arts  and 
your  greater  producing  capacities.  You  must  have  reserves,  and 
concentrate  your  forces  on  decisive  points,  and  overwhelm  your  ad 
versaries  by  disproportionate  numbers  and  reserves. 

A  year  later  the  Secretary  told  him  that  he  constantly  re 
gretted  his  inability  to  secure  the  adoption  of  Mr.  Tilden's 
policy. 

In  the  summer  of  1862  Mr.  Tilden  was  in  frequent  com 
munication  with  Horatio  Seymour.  After  the  nomination  of 
the  latter  to  the  office  of  Governor  of  New  York,  he  spent 
considerable  time  at  Mr.  Tilden's  house  ;  and  it  was  after 
consultation  with  him  that  he  prepared  the  famous  speech 
delivered  at  the  Academy  of  Music,  in  which  was  made  a 
more  urgent  demand  for  the  vigorous  prosecution  of  the  war 
than  had  before  emanated  from  the  Democracy. 

In  1864,  to  his  own  surprise,  Mr.  Tilden  found  himself 
elected  a  delegate  to  the  Chicago  Convention.  He  was 
named  as  a  member  of  the  Committee  on  Resolutions.  In 
that  committee  he  made  a  speech,  of  which  the  following  is 
a  brief  synopsis  : 

1.  Opposition  to  any  declaration  in  favor  of  an  armistice.     He 
insisted  that,  from  the  nature  of  things,  the  Executive  Government 
alone  could  be  informed  of  the  military  situation  at  any  given  mo 
ment,  or  could  appreciate  the  effect  of  a  temporary  cessation  of  arms 
at  any  given  time.     He,  therefore,  condemned  any  attempt  to  inter 
fere  with  the  Administration,  or  even  to  advise  it  on  a  question  of 
that  nature. 

2.  He  insisted  that  the  adjustment  of  the  controversy  pending 


HIS  POSITION  DURING  THE  WAR.  83 

between  the  North  and  the  South,  on  any  other  basis  than  the  resto 
ration  of  the  Union,  was  manifestly  impossible ;  that  the  questions 
about  which  parties  differed,  and  which  had  led  to  a  collision,  might 
be  compromised,  postponed,  or  left  "without  any  affirmative  action 
while  all  the  parties  to  the  controversy  remained  in  the  Union  ;  but, 
the  moment  either  went  out  of  the  Union,  the  question  of  difference 
became  immediately  and  inevitably  incapable  of  solution,  except  by 
war.  He  illustrated  this  truth  by  reference  to  the  Territories.  Many 
expedients  in  regard  to  them  to  avert  or  postpone  controversy  were 
possible  inside  the  Union ;  nothing  but  complete,  absolute,  and  final 
disposal  of  them  was  possible  in  case  of  separation.  Questions  of 
still  greater  difficulty  which  would  not  arise  within  the  Union  had 
been  created  by  separation,  and  never  could  be  solved  but  by  the 
dread  arbitrament  of  war.  He,  therefore,  maintained,  if  we  could 
not  live  together  peacefully  in  the  Union,  war  was  the  only  alterna 
tive. 

The  resolution  (always  misquoted  by  our  Republican 
friends),  in  which  reference  is  made  to  the  four  years'  failure 
to  restore  the  Union  by  the  experiment  of  war,  did  not  please 
Mr.  Tilden,  and  he  fought  it  in  the  committee  to  the  end. 
Finding  his  protest  unavailing,  he  sent  a  message  to  Gen 
eral  McClellan,  the  nominee  for  President,  advising  him  to 
kick  that  plank  of  the  platform  from  under  his  feet,  which 
General  McClellan  did, 

I  have  passed  as  briefly  as  possible  over  these  events. 
Eleven  years  have  elapsed  since  the  war  closed.  The  deep 
scars  are  healing,  and  the  sad  memories  are  passing  away. 
The  desire  for  reconciliation  and  brotherhood  grows  apace. 
It  was  for  this  that  Sumner  pleaded,  Greeley  died,  and  Chase 
labored,  and  many  other  brave  Republicans  dared  the  jeers 
of  the  coward  crowd,  who  sought  to  fill  their  purses  or 
gratify  their  unhallowed  ambition,  by  raking  in  the  ashes  of 
burned-out  passions  for  embers  of  the  old  strife  which  might 
be  stirred  to  flame.  Northerner  and  Southerner,  Federalist 
and  Confederate,  we  are  one  people  to-day,  and  no  good  can 
come  from  reviving  reminiscences  of  the  evil  years  when  we 
stood  divided  by  war's  "  bloody  chasm." 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE   TAMMANY   PJNG ITS   MEMBERS. 

BEFOEE  entering  on  that  chapter  in  Mr.  Tilden's  life  which 
describes  the  rise,  progress,  and  overthrow  of  the  Tweed  con 
spiracy,  it  is  desirable  to  sketch  the  characters  of  the  men 
who  constituted  the  "  Ring." 

I  think  Tweed  owed  his  success  more  to  his  physical  than 
to  his  mental  resources.  His  bulky  figure  conveyed  at  first 
sight  an  impression  of  fat  weakness,  of  flabbiness,  which  im 
pression  was  modified  by  his  firm,  swift  gait,  and  altogether 
dissipated  by  his  keen,  piercing  eyes,  his  sharp  nose,  and  his 
implacable  lips.  He  never  looked  or  acted  as  if  he  were  tired. 
He  would  come  up  as  fresh  at  midnight  as  at  noon.  At  his 
office  in  Duane  Street,  a  private  office  where  he  wras  seldom 
at  home  to  politicians,  and  where  a  dingy  sign  bore  the  in 
scription  "  William  M.  Tweed,  Attorney-at-law,"  he  might  be 
found  often  when  the  crowd  thought  he  was  out  of  town. 
There  sometimes  word  would  be  brought  to  him  that  trouble 
was  brewing  at  a  distant  point,  somewhere,  perhaps,  in  the 
Nineteenth  or  Twenty-second  W^rd,  miles  away  from  his  office. 
Within  an  hour  or  two  he  was  at  the  scene  of  the  alleged  re 
volt  against  his  power.  His  sinister  smile,  his  shrewd  glance, 
his  omnipresence  frightened  and  subdued  the  enemies  who 
were  of  his  own  class.  His  untiring  activity  enabled  him  to 
learn  their  plans,  to  cope  with  them  successfully,  to  frustrate 
and  tame  them.  If  he  had  been  a  lazy  man  he  could  not 
have  been  "  the  Boss."  That  title,  "  the  Boss,"  was  the  one 
which  tickled  his  large  and  low  vanity  most  perfectly.  On 
the  day  that  he  returned  to  Albany  from  New  York  in  the 


THE  TAMMANY   "RING"— ITS  MEMBERS.  85 

spring  of  1870,  after  the  Young  Democracy  had  been  barred 
out  of  Tammany  Hall,  he  stood  talking  in  the  corridor  of  the 
Capitol  to  a  knot  of  politicians.  He  grew  excited,  and,  raising 
his  brawny  right  arm  high  above  his  head,  he  shouted,  "  By 

I'll  show  them   that  the  Boss  still  lives!"     With  his 

cape-overcoat  and  theatrical  posture,  he  looked  like  a  gro 
tesque  caricature  on  an  old  Roman  senator.  But  those  who 
saw  and  heard  him  felt  the  irresistible  force  of  the  man's  phys 
ical  power,  which  like  faith  may  remove  mountains  or  hand 
cuffs. 

Tweed  entered  politics  through  the  engine-house.  His 
position  as  foreman  of  "Big  Six,"  a  company  of  the  old 
Volunteer  Fire  Department,  brought  into  full  play  the  strong 
points  of  his  character,  and  enabled  him  to  exert  an  influence 
on  his  immediate  associates  and  neighbors.  He  utilized  his 
popularity  by  securing  an  election  to  the  Board  of  Aldermen 
in  1851.  At  that  time  he  was  only  twenty-nine  years  old. 
The  next  year  he  was  elected  to  Congress,  but  the  office  on 
the  whole  was  distasteful  to  him.  He  was  too  thoroughly  iden 
tified  with  New  York  City  to  find  any  pleasure  in  Washington. 
While  serving  as  representative,  he  held  on  to  his  place  as 
alderman,  and  was  also  elected  school  commissioner.  He 
had  learned  the  trade  of  a  chair-maker,  but  abandoned  it  for 
that  of  a  "  statesman,"  which  he  declared  was  his  occupation 
when  he  entered  Blackwell's  Island.  In  1857  he  took  his  seat  as 
supervisor,  a  place  which  he  never  abandoned  till  the  "Ring" 
was  overthrown.  Up  to  this  time  it  is  only  fair  to  assume 
that  he  did  not  mean  to  get  rich  by  stealing,  that  he  was  as 
honest  as  the  average  politician,  honester,  perhaps,  than  those 
Christian  statesmen  of  Credit  Mobilier  memory  whose  wrecked 
reputations  cumber  the  coast  of  our  political  sea.  In  1861  he 
received  the  Tammany  nomination  for  sheriff,  and  was  defeated. 
He  threw  into  the  canvass  every  cent  that  he  possessed. 
He  used  to  say  that  he  spent  a  hundred  thousand  dollars,  but 
he  probably  exaggerated  the  amount.  He  ascribed  his  defeat 
not  to  his  lack  of  character,  ability,  or  popularity — what  beaten 


86  THE  LIFE  OF  SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

candidate  ever  did  ? — but  to  the  treachery  of  pretended  friends* 
He  felt  withal  that  he  had  a  grudge  to  gratify  against  the  com 
munity  which  had  preferred  another  to  him.  During  that 
winter  of  1861-'62  Tweed  found  it  difficult  to  pay  his  rent 
and  grocer's  bill.  It  was  then  that  he  resolved  to  get  rich, 
honestly  or  dishonestly.  He  was  indifferent  as  to  the  means, 
but  clear  as  to  the  end.  It  was  about  this  time  that  he  re 
ceived  his  appointment  as  deputy  street  commissioner.  The 
next  five  years  of  his  life  were  devoted  to  working  up  his 
local  strength  and  to  lining  his  purse.  In  1867  he  was  elected 
to  the  State  Senate  by  a  majority  so  large  that  it  was  hardly 
considered  worth  while  to  count  the  votes  of  his  opponent, 
and  perhaps  they  were  not  counted  !  Tweed  appreciated  the 
value  of  combinations.  He  knew  his  own  weak  points ;  his 
ignorance  of  books  and  of  law,  his  quick  temper,  and  his  in 
clination  to  boast.  He  sought  the  cooperation  of  a  man  who 
differed  essentially  from  him  in  all  these  respects.  That  man 
was  Peter  B.  Sweeney,  a  well-read  and  well-bred  lawyer. 

Sweeney  had  been  District  Attorney  of  New  York,  and 
was  chamberlain  (custodian  of  the  funds)  of  the  city  when  he 
entered  into  league  with  Tweed.  He  possessed  a  good  prop 
erty  before  the  "  Ring  "  operations. began,  and  he  did  not  want 
to  endanger  that  property  by  violating  the  law.  He  was  a  rare 
bird  among  the  politicians.  He  did  not  cultivate  the  rabble, 
nor  appear  in  the  character  of  a  hale  fellow 'well  met  with 
anybody.  He  walked  the  streets  looking  straight  in  front  of 
him,  turning  neither  to  the  right  nor  to  the  left,  and  seldom 
recognizing  those  whom  he  knew.  In  the  caricatures  which 
flooded  the  country  after  the  overthrow  of  the  "  Ring,"  Sweeney 
appeared  to  the  poorest  advantage  of  any  of  the  conspirators. 
His  low  forehead,  his  overhanging  eyebrows,  and  his  thick 
lips,  could  easily  be  tortured  into  a  villainous  look.  But  he 
was  in  reality  the  most  quiet,  unobtrusive,  and  cultured  man 
in  the  "  Ring."  He  was  a  ready  writer,  with  a  keen  and  usually 
correct  appreciation  of  political  problems,  and  he  was  a  safe 
counselor  on  subjects  not  affecting  his  personal  interests. 


THE   TAMMANY  "RING"— ITS   MEMBERS.  87 

The  dependents  of  the  "  Ring  "  were  always  on  terms  of  easy 
familiarity  with  Tweed,  but  never  with  the  "  Squire,"  as  they 
called  Sweeney.  They  credited  him  with  greater  knowledge 
than  he  possessed — and  his  acquirements  were  of  no  mean 
order — and  held  him  in  respect  approaching  awe.  They  be 
lieved  that  he  knew  their  inmost  secrets,  and  they  were  not 
far  out  of  the  way  in  that.  An  incident  may  be  given  to 
illustrate  his  character :  On  one  of  the  last  nights  of  the 
session  of  1869,  a  bill  passed  the  Legislature  incorporating 
the  Twenty-third  Street  Railroad.  The  persons  who  were 
opposing  the  measure,  finding  themselves  beaten,  hired  one 
of  the  engrossing  clerks  to  destroy  the  bill  before  it  reached 
the  Executive  Chamber.  Their  idea  was  that  the  Legislature 
would  adjourn  before  the  loss  was  discovered,  and  that  no 
copy  of  the  act  could  be  legally  substituted  for  the  original. 
Fifteen  minutes  after  this  sharp  game  was  played,  Peter  B. 
Sweeney  came  into  the  room  where  the  engrossing  clerks 
were  at  work,  and,  walking  straight  up  to  the  man  who  had 
destroyed  the  bill,  he  said  "in  a  subdued  but  emphatic  tone  : 
"  I  came  to  see  about  the  Twenty-third  Street  Railroad  Bill. 
It  was  placed  in  your  hands  this  evening  after  it  passed  the 

Legislature,  and  you  burned  it.  You  received dollars  " 

(naming  the  exact  amount),  "  from "  (naming  the  man). 

"  Now,  within  fifteen  minutes  I  want  that  bill  reengrossed.  I 
will  be  in  after  it.  You  understand  ?  " 

The  startled  engrosser  understood,  and  the  bill  was  ready 
within  the  allotted  time. 

The  third  member  of  the  "  Ring  "  was  Richard  B.  Connolly, 
an  Irishman  by  birth  and  a  skeptic  in  religion.  He  was  the 
only  adopted  citizen  in  the  famous  quartet,  and  he  had  lived 
from  his  youth  in  Philadelphia  and  New  York,  learning  the 
ways  of  the  natives.  He  was  a  good  book-keeper,  but  was 
otherwise  an  ignorant  man.  In  1866  he  was  nominated  for 
Comptroller  on  the  Tammany  ticket,  and  was  elected.  He 
had  been  long  enough  out  of  politics  (serving  as  a  clerk  in  a 
bank)  to  acquire  an  air  of  quasi  respectability.  Pending  the 


88  THE   LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

canvass  his  old  sobriquet  of  "  Slippery  Dick  "  was  revived, 
whereupon  he  wrote  a  most  plausible  note  to  the  newspapers 
setting  forth  that  there  must  be  some  mistake  in  the  minds 
of  the  editors  as  to  his  identity ;  that  he  was  not  "  Slippery 
Dick,"  but  a  hard-working  and  faithful  bank-officer,  a  stranger 
to  politics,  etc.,  etc.  He  backed  his  assertions  with  a  recom 
mendation  signed  by  a  number  of  leading  citizens  who  always 
seemed  to  hold  themselves  in  readiness  to  subscribe  to  any 
paper  which  was  presented  to  them.  Connolly  affected  a  full 
suit  of  black  broadcloth,  wore  little  jewelry,  and  with  his 
close-shaven  face,  his  high,  narrow  forehead,  his  sandy-gray 
hair,  and  his  studied  deportment,  he  passed,  as  far  as  personal 
appearance  went,  for  a  model  figure  of  a  financier.  He  was  a 
timid  man,  but  greedy.  His  timidity  amused  his  confederates, 
who  really  believed  that  there  was  not  power  enough  in  the 
State  to  shake  their  hold  on  the  city  ;  but  his  greed  exasper 
ated  them,  for  they  were  greedy  also,  and  they  claimed  that 
he  did  not  "  put  up  "  his  share  toward  satisfying  the  army  of 
"  strikers  "  who  served  as  satellites  to  the  "  Ring."  Connolly 
is  credited  with  inventing  that  quadruple  entry-system  of 
book-keeping,  whereby  stupendous  frauds  were  temporarily 
concealed  from  public  view.  He  contributed  to  the  "Ring" 
an  abundance  of  low  cunning,  and  a  mannerism  which  passed 
for  dignity  among  certain  eminently  respectable  tax-payers. 
Sweeney  furnished  the  brains  and  the  requisite  force  of 
character.  Tweed  supplied  the  muscle,  the  audacity,  and  the 
ability,  to  control  large  bodies  of  men  by  bringing  himself  into 
direct  contact  with  them.  But  the  combination  needed  a 
figure-head — a  man  willing  to  accept  in  preference  to  money 
such  honors  as  the  others  had  to  offer — a  nimble-witted  man. 
They  found  such  in  the  person  of  Mr.  A.  Oakey  Hall. 

Tweed  never  feared  the  Republican  party.  In  the  New 
York  City  elections  he  wanted  it  to  keep  up  its  organization 
and  run  its  regular  candidates,  and  he  contributed  more  than 
anybody  else  toward  paying  its  expenses.  He  did  not  fear 
the  Democracy  of  the  rural  regions,  for  he  made  it  a  point 


THE   TAMMANY   "RING"— ITS  MEMBERS.  89 

seldom  to  interfere  in  the  State  politics  .in  an  offensive  way. 
He  did  not  greatly  fear  the  newspapers,  for  he  trusted  to  the 
ignorance  of  some,  and  to  the  cupidity  of  others.  The  one 
power  that  he  feared  above  all  others  was  Samuel  J.  Tilden. 
The  cordiality  of  his  hatred  toward  Mr.  Tilden  is  perfectly 
well  known  to  every  man  who  knew  Tweed.  He  avoided 
him  when  he  could,  but  vented  his  wrath  on  him  in  private 
and  public  places.  To  a  friend  of  Governor  Seymour  Tweed 
said,  one  day,  in  the  height  of  his  evil  power,  "  What  does 
Horatio  Seymour  want?"  It  was  mildly  suggested  that 
Horatio  Seymour  didn't  want  anything.  "  Well,  then,  what 
makes  him  twin  with  old  Sam  Tilden  ?  "  asked  Tweed.  In 
reply,  it  was  hinted  that  Seymour  and  Tilden  were  friends  of 
long  standing,  and  that  they  had  many  opinions  in  common. 
Finally,  the  question  was  propounded,  l<  What  does  Tilden 
want  ?  "  Tweed,  who  was  standing  at  the  time  in  the  large 
hall  of  the  Delavan  House,  in  Albany,  answered  it  in  the  fol 
lowing  comprehensive  style : 

"  Sam  Tilden  wants  to  overthrow  Tammany  Hall.  He 
wants  to  drive  me  out  of  politics.  He  wants  to  stop  the  pick 
ings,  starve  out  the  boys,  and  run  the  government  of  the  city 
as  if  'twas  a  blanked  little  country  store  up  in  New  Lebanon. 
He  wants  to  bring  the  hay-loft  and  cheese-press  down  to  the 
city,  and  crush  out  the  machine.  He  wants  to  get  a  crowd 
of  canting  reformers  in  the  Legislature,  who  will  talk  about 
the  centrifugal  force  of  the  Government,  and  cut  down  the 
tax-levy  below  a  living  rate; "and  then,  when  he  gets  every 
thing  all  fixed  to  suit  him,  he  wants  to  go  to  the  United 
States  Senate." 

This  was  Tweed's  opinion  of  Tilden  in  1869.  His  hatred 
of  him  grew  mtenser  after  his  opposition  to  the  charter  of 
1870. 

It  is  alleged  that  the  Tammany  "  Ring  "  perpetrated  frauds 
in  the  election  of  1868,  and  it  is  vaguely  charged  that,  because 
Mr.  Tilden  was  chairman  of  the  State  Committee,  he  must 
have  been  a  party  to  these  frauds.  But  let  us  look  at  the 


90  THE   LIFE   OF  SAMOEL   J.  TILDEN. 

facts.  Mr.  Tilden,  as  chairman  of  the  State  Committee,  had 
no  more  to  do  with  the  election  in  the  city  of  New  York  than 
he  had  with  the  election  in  the  city  of  Buffalo.  If  any  frauds 
were  perpetrated,  they  were  perpetrated  by  the  inspectors 
and  canvassers  of  election,  or  with  their  connivance  and  con 
sent.  These  inspectors  and  canvassers  were  all  appointed  by 
the  Republican  Board  of  Police  Commissioners,  who  derived 
their  authority  from  the  Republican  Legislature  in  Albany. 
That  Tweed  exercised  an  undue  influence  over  these  commis 
sioners  is  quite  probable ;  but  it  is  absolutely  certain  that  Tilden 
possessed  no  power  at  all  with  them.  It  is  true  that,  on  the 
eve  of  the  election,  the  "  Ring  "  put  forth  a  circular,  of  doubtful 
import,  to  which  the  name  of  Samuel  J.  Tilden  was  attached. 
But  it  was  proved  before  the  Republican  Congressional  In 
vestigating  Committee,  which  visited  New  York  in  1869,  both 
by  the  confession  of  those  who  issued  the  circular,  and  by  the 
positive  testimony  of  Mr.  Tilden  himself,  that  the  signature 
was  a  forgery;  that  it  was  used  without  his  knowledge  or 
consent,  and  that  it.  was  repudiated  by  him  as  soon  as  it  came 
to  light. 

From  1869  to  1871  the  Tweed  "  Ring"  enjoyed  a  season 
of  wicked  prosperity.  Tweed's  policy  was  to  buy  off  with 
offices  all  the  powerful  opponents  whom  he  could  not  bully 
or  bribe  into  submission.  It  was  surprising  how  many  men 
yielded  to  his  threats  or  his  persuasions.  But  he  knew  from 
the  first  that  Mr.  Tilden  could  not  be  bought  off,  or  cajoled 
into  acquiescence.  This  knowledge  exasperated  "  the  Boss." 
There  was  another  man  in  a  very  different  sphere  of  life 
whom  Tweed  also  feared.  That  man  was  Mr.  James  O'Brien, 
who  had  been  Sheriff  of  New  York  from  1867  to  1870. 
O'Brien  had  a  larger  personal  following  than  any  other  city 
politician,  with  the  possible  exception  of  "  the  Big  Judge," 
the  late  Michael  Connolly.  He  distributed  his  money  freely 
while  he  was  Sheriff,  and  retired  from  an  office— said  to  be 
worth  $100,000  a  year — as  poor  as  he  entered  it.  He  then 
presented  a  claim  against  the  city  for  $200,000.  The  "  Ring  " 


THE   TAMMANY   "RING"— ITS   MEMBERS.  91 

Board  of  Audit'  refused  to  allow  this  claim.  The  question 
of  its  justice  did  not  enter  into  their  deliberations.  The  ma 
jority  rejected  the  claim  because,  as  they  expressed  it,  they 
were  not  afraid  of  O'Brien.  He  was  out  of  office,  and  they 
felt  secure  against  him.  In  this  opinion  Tweed  did  not  con 
cur.  He  knew  O'Brien  better  than  his  associates,  and  was 
in  favor  of  paying  him,  but  he  was  overruled.  O'Brien,  sus 
pecting  that  some  big  stealing  would  follow  the  adoption  of 
the  "  Ring  "  charter,  secured  the  services  of  a  clerk  in  Comp 
troller  Connolly's  office,  who  made  an  accurate  transcript  of 
those  bogus  accounts  by  which  an  enormous  sum  of  money 
was  credited  to  the  New  Court-House.  With  this  weapon 
in  his  hand,  O'Brien  again  demanded  the  payment  of  his 
claim,  and  was  again  refused.  So  confident  were  the  con 
spirators  of  their  strength,  that  they  did  not  believe  that  the 
publication  of  the  accounts  would  hurt  them.  But,  when  the 
publication  was  made,  they  discovered  that  it  would  have 
bten  better  for  them  if  they  had  followed  Tweed's  advice 
and  not  exasperated  O'Brien.  But  the  "  Ring's  "  belief  in  its 
invincibility  rested  on  some  substantial  ground.  Usually, 
when  it  wanted  a  man,  it  stretched  forth  its  hand — and  he 
came.  For  instance,  near  the  close  of  the  legislative  session 
of  1869,  three  Republican  Senators  were  needed  to  insure 
the  passage  of  what  was  known  as  the  New  York  tax  levy. 
The  bill  was  under  debate  until  late  in  the  evening,  with  the 
general  understanding  that  "negotiations"  were  pending. 
Tweed,  Connolly,  and  Sweeney  were  gathered  in  a  room.  To 
them  came  a  well-known  lobbyist.  He  said  :  "  I  think  five 
horses  apiece  will  draw  'em  ;  I  know  that  six  will."  A 
"horse,"  in  their  parlance,  meant  $5,000.  "Put  on  six 
horses,"  said  Tweed.  Within  an  hour  the  sum  of  $30,000 
was  paid  to  each  of  the  three  Senators,  and  they  went  back 
to  the  Senate-Chamber  and  voted  for  the  tax  levy.  With 
such  means  at  their  command,  and  with  such  corruptible  ele 
ments  surrounding  them,  is  it  surprising  that  Tweed  and  his 
associates  grew  to  have  boundless  faith  in  themselves  ? 


92  THE   LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.  TILDEX. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  describe  the  vulgar  splendor  which 
reigned  in  Albany,  during  the  legislative  session,  when  the 
"  Ring  "  was  at  its  height.  Tweed's  hotel  bill,  for  a  hundred 
days,  was  $13,000.  His  satellites  fared  almost  as  sumptu 
ously  as  he.  Obsequious  servants  awaited  the  beck  and  nod 
of  shoulder-strikers,  resplendent  in  diamonds,  who  only  lately 
dealt  out  bad  whiskey  from  corner  groceries.  The  "  mem 
ber  "  was  bowled  up  the  State-House  hill,  to  his  easy  duties, 
in  a  luxurious  carriage  drawn  by  swift  horses.  The  member's 
next  friend,  and  go-between,  paid  for  all  the  champagne 
which  the  most  insatiable  taste  could  crave.  If  mere  physi 
cal,  sensual  pleasure  were  the  sum  of  human  happiness  (and 
they  thought  it  was),  these  men  ought  to  have  been  the  hap 
piest  creatures  on  earth.  But  a  face  haunted  them — the 
fact  of  a  quiet,  determined  man,  who  always  accomplished 
what  he  undertook  ;  whose  principles  were  not  for  sale  ;  who 
held  to  the  traditions  of  the  fathers  ;  whose  own  life  was 
blameless  ;  who  could  not  be  turned  by  threats,  nor  moved 
by  promises.  And  the  face  that  haunted  them  was  the  face 
of  Samuel  J.  Tilden. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

MR.  TTLDEN'S   HISTORY    OF   THE    OVERTHROW   OF   THE   TAM- 
MAXY  "RING." 

THE  account  of  the  overthrow  of  the  Tammany  "Ring," 
which  is  herewith  given,  is  from  the  pen  of  Mr.  Tilden  him 
self.  It  was  written  in  January,  1873,  and  was  called  forth 
by  a  number  of  scurrilous  articles  which  appeared  in  the 
columns  of  the  New  York  Times.  Mr.  Tilden  submitted  his 
answer  to  these  attacks  to  the  Times^  but  that  journal  re 
fused  to  publish  what  he  had  written.  A  more  complete, 
comprehensive,  and  succinct  account  of  the  overthrow  of  the 
"  Ring,"  it  would  be  difficult  to  imagine.  Although  Mr.  Til 
den  explains,  in  his  opening  paragraph,  that  in  replying  to  a 
newspaper  article  he  departs  from  his  established  custom 
through  life,  it  must  nevertheless  be  counted  a  piece  of  good 
fortune  that  in  this  instance  he  broke  from  his  rule.  No  one 
else  could  have  told  the  story  so  well  as  he.  It  leaves  no 
ground  for  doubt  as  to  the  position  which  Mr.  Tilden  occu 
pied  toward  Tweed  and  his  confederates. 

Omitting  some  prefatory  matter,  the  history  of  the  over 
throw  of  the  Tammany  "Ring"  is  as  follows  : 

OEIGIN   OF   THE    "  BING." 

The  '« Ring "  had  its  origin  in  the  Board  of  Supervisors.  That 
body  was  created  by  an  act  passed  in  1857,  in  connection  with  the 
charter  of  that  year.  The  act  provided  that  but  six  persons  should 
be  voted  for  by  each  elector — and  twelve  should  be  chosen.  In  other 
words,  the  nominees  of  the  Republican  and  Democratic  party  cau 
cuses  should  be  elected.  At  the  next  session,  the  term  was  extended 


94  THE   LIFE   OF  SAMUEL   J.  TILDEN. 

to  six  years.  So,  we  had  a  body,  composed  of  six  Republicans  and 
six  Democrats,  to  change  a  majority  of  which  you  must  control  the 
primaries  of  both  the  great  national  and  State  parties  for  four  years 
in  succession.  Not  an  easy  job,  certainly !  The  individual  man  has 
little  enough  of  influence  when  you  allow  him  some  chance  of  deter 
mining  between  two  parties,  some  possibility  of  converting  the  mi 
nority  into  a  majority.  This  scheme  took  away  that  little.  It  also 
invited  the  managers  of  the  primaries  to  do  as  badly  as  possible  by 
removing  all  restraints. 

It  is  but  just  to  say  that  the  Democracy  are  not  responsible  for 
this  sort  of  statesmanship,  which  considers  the  equal  division  of 
official  emoluments  more  important  than  the  administration  of  official 
trusts  or  the  well-being  of  the  governed.  In  the  Assembly  of  1857, 
of  one  hundred  and  twenty-eight  members,  the  Democracy  had  but 
thirty-seven ;  of  thirty -two  Senators,  it  had  but  four  ;  and  had  not 
the  Governor.  In  the  thirteen  years,  from  1857  to  1869,  it  never 
had  a  majority  in  the  Senate ;  in  the  Assembly  but  once ;  and  had 
the  Governor  but  once  up  to  1869.  The  Republicans  had  the  legisla 
tive  power  of  the  State  in  all  that  period,  as  they  and  their  Whig  pred 
ecessors  had  possessed  it  for  the  previous  ten  years. 

The  "  Ring  "  was  doubly  a  "  Ring."  It  was  a  ring  between  the  six 
Republican  and  the  six  Democratic  Supervisors.  It  soon  grew  to  a 
ring  between  the  Republican  majority  in  Albany  and  the  half-and- 
half  Supervisors,  and  a  few  Democratic  officials  of  this  city. 

The  very  definition  of  a  "Ring"  is  that  it  encircles  enough  influ 
ential  men  in  the  organization  of  each  party  to  control  the  action  of 
both  party  machines ;  men  who  in  public  push  to  extremes  the  ab 
stract  ideas  of  their  respective  parties,  while  they  secretly  join  their 
hands  in  schemes  for  personal  power  and  profit. 

The  Republican  partners  had  the  superior  power.  They  could 
create  such  institutions  as  the  Board  of  Supervisors,  and  could  abolish 
them  at  will.  They  could  extinguish  offices,  and  substitute  others ; 
change  the  laws  which  fix  their  duration,  functions,  and  responsibili 
ties,  and  nearly  always  could  invoke  the  Executive  power  of  removal. 
The  Democratic  members,  who  in  some  city  offices  represented  the 
firm  to  the  supposed  prejudices  of  a  local  Democratic  majority,  were 
under  the  necessity  of  submitting  to  whatever  terms  the  Albany  leg 
islators  imposed ;  and,  at  length,  found  out  by  experience — what 
they  had  not  intellect  to  foresee — that  all  real  power  was  in  Albany. 
They  began  to  go  there  in  person  to  share  it.  The  lucrative  city 


OVERTHROW   OF   THE   TAMMANY   "RING."  95 

offices— subordinate  appointments,  which  each  head  of  department 
could  create  at  pleasure,  with  salaries,  in  his  discretion,  distributed 
among  the  friends  of  the  legislators — contracts — money  contributed 
by  city  officials,  assessed  on  their  subordinates,  raised  by  jobs  under 
the  departments,  and  sometimes  taken  from  the  city  treasury— were 
the  pabulum  of  corrupt  influence  which  shaped  and  controlled  all 
legislation.  Every  year  the  system  grew  worse  as  a  governmental 
institution,  and  became  more  powerful  and  more  corrupt.  The  exec 
utive  departments  gradually  swallowed  up  all  local  powers,  and  them 
selves  were  mere  deputies  of  legislators  at  Albany,  on  whom  alone 
they  were  dependent.  The  mayor  and  Common  Council  ceased  to 
have  much  legal  authority  and  lost  all  practical  influence.  There  was 
nobody  to  represent  the  people  of  the  city— there  was  no  discussion- 
there  was  no  publicity.  Cunning  and  deceptive  provisions  of  law- 
concocted  in  the  secrecy  of  the  departments,  commissions  and  bu 
reaus—agreed  upon  in  the  lobbies  at  Albany,  between  the  city  officials 
and  the  legislators  or  their  go-betweens— appeared  on  the  statute- 
book  after  every  session.  In  this  manner  all  institutions  of  govern 
ment,  all  taxation,  all  appropriations  of  money  for  our  million  of 
people,  were  formed.  For  many  years  there  was  no  time  when  a 
vote  at  a  city  election  would  in  any  practical  degree  or  manner, 
affect  the  city  government. 

PEEIOD    OF    "  KING  "    POWEE. 

The  "Ring  "became  completely  organized  and  matured  on  the 
1st  of  January,  1869,  when  Mr.  A.  Oakey  Hall  became  mayor.  Mr. 
Connolly  was  Comptroller  two  years  earlier. 

Its  power  had  already  become  great,  but  was  as  nothing  com 
pared  with  what  it  acquired  on  .the  Jrth  of  April,  1870,  bj^  an  jict 
which  was  a  mere  legislative  grant  of  the  offices,  giving  the  powers 
of  local  government  to  individuals  of  the  "  Ring  "  for  long  periods, 
and  &eed  from  all  accountability,  as  if  their  names  had  been  men 
tioned  as. grantees  in  the  bill. 

Its  duration  was  through  1869, 1870,  and  1871,  until  its  overthrow 
at  the  election  of  November,  when  it  lost  most  of  the  Senators  and 
Assemblymen  from  this  city,  and  was  shaken  in  its  hold  on  the  legis 
lative  power  of  the  State. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  the  first  date  in  the  list  of  county  warrants 
bearing  indications  of  fraud,  published  by  the  Times  in  the  last  of 
July,  1871,  is  January  11,  1869.  Of  the  $11,250,000  embraced  in 


96  THE  LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

these  accounts,  $3,800,000  were  in  1869  ;  $880,000  in  1870,  before 
April  5th;  $6,250,000  in  1870,  after  that  date ;  and  $323,000  in  1871.; 
The  thorough  investigation  made  by  Mr.  Taintor,  at  my  instance, 
shows  the  aggregate  vastly  larger,  but  does  not  much  alter  the  pro 
portions,  except  in  1871.  The  periods  of  power  and  plunder  are  co 
incident  in  time  and  magnitude. 

FORMATIVE   PEEIOD. 

Even  before  the  "Ring"  came  into  organized  existence  the  antag 
onism  between  those  who  afterward  became  its  most  leading  mem 
bers  and  myself  was  sharply  defined  and  public.  It  originated  in  no 
motive  of  a  personal  nature  on  my  part,  but  in  the  incompatibility 
of  their  and  my  ideas  of  public  duty.  I  distrusted  them.  They  knew 
that  they  could  not  deceive  or  seduce  me  into  any  deviation  from  my 
principles  of  action.  As  early  as  1863  some  of  them  became  deeply 
embittered,  because,  being  summoned  by  Governor  Seymour  to  a 
consultation  about  the  Broadway  Railroad  bill,  I  advised  him  to 
veto  it. 

Some  years  afterward  I  accepted  the  lead  of  the  Democratic  State 
organization.  I  did  so  with  extreme  reluctance,  and  only  after  hav 
ing  in  vain  tried  to  place  it  in  hands  in  which  I  could  have  confidence. 
I  had  seen  the  fearful  decay  of  civic  morals  incident  to  the  fluctuating 
values  of  paper-money  and  civil  war.  I  had  heard  and  believed  that 
the  influence  of  the  Republican  party  organization  had  been  habit 
ually  sold  in  the  lobbies — sometimes  in  the  guise  of  counsel-fees,  and 
sometimes  without  any  affectation  of  decency.  I  had  left  the  Assem 
bly  and  Constitutional  Convention  in  1846,  when  corruption,  in  the 
legislative  bodies  of  the  State,  was  totally  unknown,  and  now  was 
convinced  that  it  had  become  almost  universal.  I  desired  to  save 
from  degradation  the  great  party  whose  principles  and  traditions 
were  mine  by  inheritance  and  conviction,  and  to  make  it  an  instru 
ment  of  a  reaction  in  the  community  which  alone  could  save  free 
government.  Holding  wearily  the  end  of  a  rope,  because  I  feared 
where  it  might  go  if  I  dropped  it,  I  kept  the  State  organization  in 
absolute  independence.  I  never  took  a  favor  of  any  sort  from  these 
men,  or  from  any  man  I  distrusted.  I  had  not  much  power  in  the 
Legislature  on  questions  which  interested  private  cupidity,  but  in  a 
State  Convention,  where  the  best  men  in  society  and  business  would 
go,  because  it  was  for  but  a  day  or  two,  those  with  whom  I  acted 
generally  had  the  majority. 


OVERTHROW  OF  THE   TAMMANY   "RING."  97 

1869. 

I  had  no  more  knowledge  or  grounds  of  suspicion  of  the  frauds/\ 
W  1869,  as  they  were  discovered  three  years  afterward,  than  the     \ 
Times  or  the  general  public/  But  I  had  no  faith  in  the  men  who  be 
came  known  as  the  "King,"  and  they  feared  me.     I  had  no  personal 
animosity ;  but  I  never  conciliated  them,  and  I  never  turned  from 
what  I  thought  right,  to  avoid  a  collision. 

The  first  impulse  of  their  growing  ambition  and  increased  power 
was,  to  get- rid  of  me  and  possess  themselves  of  the  Democratic  State 
organization.  Their  intrigue  for  this  purpose  was  conceived  and 
agreed  upon  in  the  winter,  at  Albany  ;  I  knew  it,  but  I  did  nothing 
till  August.  Then  I  accepted  the  issue  ;  and  they  were  defeated  by 
seven-eighths  of  the  convention.  The  country  papers  of  the  Republi 
can  party  were  full  of  the  subject.  The  files  of  the  Times  show  that 
the  contest  attracted  public  attention.  That  these  men  and  I  were 
not  in  accord  was  known  wherever  in  the  United  States  there  was 
the  least  information  on  such  subjects. 

This  year  was  marked  by  the  saturnalia  of  injunctions  and  re 
ceiverships. 

In  April  and  May,  in  speeches  in  the  Circuit  Court  of  the  United 
States,  I  denounced  the  orders  granted  by  Barnard  to  Fisk  against 
the  Pacific  Railroad  Company,  as  perversions  of  the  instruments  of 
justice,  bearing  on  their  face  bad  faith.  I  had  reason  to  believe  that 
Tweed  was  a  partner  in  this  freebooting  speculation;  and  his  son 
was  Barnard's  receiver.  The  contest  excited  universal  attention. 
My  motive  in  taking  the  case,  with  great  inconvenience  to  more  im 
portant  business,  was  the  abhorrence  I  felt  of  the  prostitution  of 
judicial  power  which  touched  the  rights  and  interests  and  honor  of 
every  man  in  the  community ;  and  the  consideration  that,  on  being 
applied  to  by  the  company  in  its  extremity,  I  had  advised  that  the 
orders  in  Barnard's  court,  for  the  seven  months  previous,  were  nulli 
ties,  and  the  acceptance  of  that  advice  seemed  to  impose  on  me  the 
obligation  to  maintain  it,  as  was  done  successfully. 

I  declined  retainers  from  Fisk  in  matters  involving  no  scandal, 

but  in  which  he  had  not  my  sympathy,  after  he  had  informed  me 

that  he  had  paid  a  counsel,  during  the  year,  many  times  the  largest 

•  fee*  I  had  ever  received ;  adding,  u  We  don't  want  anybody  else — we 

want  you." 

My  open  denunciations  of  the  judicial  abuses,  so  frequent  at  this 
time,  and  the  general  support  I  had  received  from  the  country  dele- 
5 


98  THE   LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

gates,  I  have  always  believed  to  be  the  origin  of  tbe  reaction  by 
which,  instead  of  a  third  subject  for  impeachment,  Judge  Brady  was 
nominated. 

In  December,  I  signed  the  call  for  the  meeting  at  which  the  Bar 
Association  was  formed.  At  that  meeting,  on  the  first  of  February, 
1870,  upon  being  called  on,  I  gave  utterance  to  my  unpremeditated 
thoughts,  in  words  which  stand,  without  any  change,  as  they  were 
reported  in  the  official  proceedings  of  that  body.  They  were  gen 
erally  deemed  to  breathe  a  tone  of  defiant  independence.  Among 
those  thoughts  were  these : 

If  the  bar  is  to  become  merely  a  mode  of  making  money,  making 
it  in  the  most  convenient  way  possible,  but  making  it  at  all  hazards, 
then  the  bar  is  degraded.  (Applause.)  If  the  bar  is  to  be  merely 
an  institution  that  seeks  to  win  causes,  and  win  them  by  back-door 
access  to  the  judiciary,  then  it  is  not  only  degraded,  but  it  is  corrupt. 
(Great  applause.) 

Sir,  I  am  as  peaceable  a  man  as  my  friend  Nicoll,  yet  I  confess 
that  his  words  of  peace  sounded  a  little  too  strong  in  my  ears.  The 
bar,  if  it  is  to  continue  to  exist,  if  it  would  restore  itself  to  the  dig 
nity  and  honor  which  it  once  possessed,  must  be  bold  in  aggression. 
(Great  applause.)  If  it  will  do  its  duty  to  itself,  if  it  will  do  its 
duty  to  the  profession  which  it  follows,  and  to  which  it  is  devoted, 
the  bar  can  do  everything  else.  It  can  have  reformed  constitutions, 
it  can  have  a  reformed  judiciary -,  it  can  have  the  administration  of 
justice  made  pure  and  honorable,  and  can  restore  both  the  judiciary 
and  the  bar,  until  it  shall  be  once  more,  as  it  formerly  was,  an  honor 
able  and  elevated  calling.  (Applause.) 

I  may  mention  in  passing  that  at  this  time  judicial  reform,  of 
which  the  Times  was  last  year  so  useful  a  champion,  had  not  then 
interested  it  enough  to  bring  into  its  columns  a  full  report  of  that 
important  meeting. 

CONTEST    OF   18TO. 

For  the  first  time  in  four-and-twenty  years,  the  Democrats  had, 
in  1870,  the  law-making  power.  They  had  in  the  Senate  just  one 
vote,  and  in  the  Assembly  seven  votes,  more  than  were*  necessary  to 
pass  a  bill,  if  so  rare  a  thing  should  happen  as  that  every  member 
was  present  and  all  should  agree. 

This  result  brought  more  dismay  than  joy  to  the  "  King."  They 
had  intrenched  themselves  against  the  people  of  this  city  in  the 
legislative  bodies.  But  the  Democratic  party  was  bound,  by  count 
less  pledges,  to  restore  local  government  to  the  voting  power  of  the 
people  of  the  city.  The  "Ring"  could  trade  in  the  lobbies  at 


OVERTHROW   OF  THE   TAMMANY   "RING."  99 

Albany,  or  with  the  half-and-half  supervisors  in  the  mysterious 
chambers  of  that  board.  They  might  even  risk  a  popular  vote  on 
mayor,  if  secure  in  the  departments  which  had  all  the  patronage, 
and  could  usually  elect  their  own  candidate.  But  they  had  no  stom 
ach  for  a  free  fight,  over  the  whole  government,  at  a  separate  election. 
Their  motives  were  obvious,  on  a  general  view  of  their  human 
nature.  'None  but  the  "King"  then  knew  that,  in  the  secret  re 
cesses  of  the  supervisors,  and  other  similar  bureaus,  were  hid  ten 
millions  of  bills  largely  fraudulent,  and  that,  in  the  perspective,  were 
eighteen  other  millions,  nearly  all  fraudulent. 

TIIE    SHAM. 

^Ajhamwas  necessary  to  the  uEing."  Moral  support  was  neces 
sary  to  sustain  their  imposture.  None  of  the  "King"  ever  came 
near  inTT^^T^^N'atEaniel  Sands  often  called  to  talk  over  city  re 
form.  He  sometimes  brought  my  honored  and  esteemed  friend  Mr. 
Peter  CooperA  They  were  convinced  that  the  "King"  had  become 
conservative — were  not  ambitious  of  more  wealth — were  on  the 
side  of  the  tax-payers.  There  was  thought  to  be  great  peril  as  to 
who  might  come  in,  in  case  the  "  Ring  "  should  be  turned  out!) 

I  told  Mr.  Sands  I  would  shelter  no  sham.  I  would  cooperate 
with  anybody  for  a  good  charter.  The  light  and  air  of  heaven  must 
be  let  in  upon  the  stagnant  darkness  of  the  city  administration.  The 
men  to  come  into  office  must  enter  after  a  vote  of  the  people.  I  did 
not  believe  the  "  Ring  "  would  agree  to  that.  I  would  agree  to 
nothing  else. 

The  "Ring"  did  not  want  any  conference  with  me.  They  tried 
their  own  plan.  It  failed  ignominiously.  After  it  was  defeated, 
none  were  so  poor  as  to  do  it  reverence. 

It  never  had  the  slightest  chance  of  revival  without  a  general 
support  of  the  Republicans.  Not  only  were  three  Democratic  city 
Senators  against  it,  but  enough  Democratic  Senators  from  the  coun 
try  would  vote  against  it  if  their  votes  could  be  made  effective. 

OPPOSITION. 

During  the  lull,  I  had  conferences  with  Mr.  Jackson  S.  Schultz, 
then  President  of  the  Union  League  Club ;  Mr.  Nordhoff,  of  the 
Post ;  Mr.  Greeley,  of  the  Tribune  ;  Mr.  Marble,  of  the  World,  and 
many  others.  I  entered  into  no  alliance  with  the  "Young  De- 


100  THE   LIFE   OF  SAMUEL   J.  TILDEN. 

mocracy"  for  future  political  power,  and  for  weeks  was  ignorant 
even  of  their  meetings.  I  did  accept  from  Mr.  Marble  two  invita 
tions  to  attend  consultations  on  a  draft  of  a  charter ;  and  certain 
fundamental  ideas,  on  which  he  and  I  insisted,  were  conceded. 
These  were  a  separate  municipal  election  in  each  spring,  a  new  elec 
tion  hefore  the  executive  offices  should  be  filled,  the  subjection  of  all 
officers  to  a  practical  responsibility,  and  terms  of  office  which  should 
preserve  to  each  successive  mayor  his  supervisory  powers  over  the 
government  of  which  he  is  the  head.  These  ideas  were  concurred 
in  by  the  Union  League  Club,  and  by  the  other  gentlemen  I  have 
mentioned. 

THE    CONFLICT. 

Suddenly  a  charter  was  sprung  by  Mr.  Tweed,  and  rushed  for 
ward  very  fast. 

I  wa#  convinced  it  would  pass.  A  clerk  in  one  of  the  public 
offices  came  privately  to  tell  me  "  the  stuff  had  been  sent  up."  There 
was  a  movement  to  resist  it.  Mr.  Schultz,  Mr.  Bailey,  and  others, 
were  in  motion.  The  Union  League  Club  appointed  a  committee  of 
fifteen  to  go  to  Albany  to  remonstrate.  My  cooperation  was  asked. 
I  had  little  hope.  I  expected  a  large  Republican  support  of  Mr. 
Tweed's  scheme.  But  I  thought  it  right  to  do  the  utmost  for  those 
who  were  willing  to  make  an  effort.  I  felt  more  scorn  than  I  ever 
remember  to  have  felt  for  the  pusillanimity  which  characterized  the 
hour.  I  had  no  objections  to  hang  up  my  solitary  protest  against 
the  crime  about  to  be  committed.  I  made  a  speech  before  Mr. 
Tweed  and  his  committee  of  the  Senate.  An  unrevised  report  was 
published  at  the  time.  It  contains  the  following  passages  : 

By  the  first  appointment  of  these  various  offices,  self-government 
in  the  people  of  the  city  of  New  York  is  in  abeyance  for  from  four 
to  eight  years.  Sir,  by  that  bill  the  appointment  of  all  these  offices 
is  to  be  made  by  a  gentleman  now  in  office.  It  is  precisely  as  if  in 
the  bill  it  had  read:  Not  that  the  mayor  shall  make  these  appoint 
ments,  but  the  INDIVIDUAL  who  to-day  fills  that  office.  .  .  .  The 
act  proceeds  in  the  same  way  in  which  the  acts  creating  commissions 
have  done.  A  gentleman  is  designated  who  makes  these  appoint 
ments.  To  all  practical  intents  and  purposes  THEY  ABE  COMMISSIONS 
just  as  under  the  old,  system.  .  .  .  Under  the  Republican  system 
of  commissioners,  the  Street  Department  and  the  Croton  Board 
have  been  reserved  to  the  control  of  the  city  authorities.  They 
stand,  as  under  the  old  system,  anterior  to  the  time  .when  these  com 
missions  began  to  be  formed.  .  .  .  The  mayor  has  no  power  over 
these  functionaries,  except  to  impeach  them,  and  all  experience  has 


OVERTHROW   OF  THE  TAMMANY  "RING."  101 

shown  that  that  is  a  dilatory  and  insufficient  resource,  not  to  be 
relied  on  in  the  ordinary  administration  of  the  Government.  .  .  . 
On  December  31st,  by  the  provisions  of  this  bill,  the  term  of  (the 
mayor's)  office  will  expire.  Then,  sir,  what  will  be  the  situation  of 
his  successor  ?  For  two  years  he  will  have  no  power  whatever  over 
the  administration  of  the  Government  of  which  he  is  the  nominal 
head.  All  these  functionaries  survive  him.  Their  terms  go  beyond 
his  term,  and  he  has  not  the  power  to'  remove  them,  not  the  power  to 
enforce  any  practical  responsibility  as  against  them.  He  is  a  mere 
cipher.  Then,  sir,  at  the  end  of  two  years  another  election  takes 
place,  another  mayor  is  elected.  Still  these  officers  extend  their 
terms  clear  beyond  his,  the  shortest  of  them  being  for  four  years,  and 
the  longest  of  them  for  eight  years,  many  of  them  for  five.  .  .  . 
This  charter  is  defective  in  another  respect,  in  that  it  makes  the  elec 
tion  of  charter  officers  coincident  with  that  of  the  State  and  Federal 
officers.  The  municipal  election  of  a  million  of  people  is  of  sufficient 
importance  to  be  dealt  with  by  itself,  and  by  so  doing  you  avoid  mix 
ing  of  municipal  interests  with  State  and  national  interests.  .  .  . 
What  I  object  to  in  this  bill  is  that  you  have  a  mayor  without  any 
executive  power  ;  you  have  a  Legislature  WITHOUT  LEGISLATIVE  POWEE  ; 
you  have  elections  without  ANY  power  in  the  people  to  AFFECT  the 
Government  for  the  period  during  which  these  officers  are  appointed. 
It  is  not  a  popular  Government,  it  is  not  a  responsible  Government ; 
it  is  a  Government  beyond  the  control  and  independent  of  the  will  of 
the  people.  That  the  mayor  should  have  real  and  substantial  power 
is  the  theory  we  have  been  discussing  for  the  last  four  or  five  years. 
It  is  the  theory  upon  which  we  have  carried  on  our  controversies 
against  our  adversaries,  and  are  now  here.  .  .  .  After  a  period  of 
twenty  years,  for  the  first  time,  the  party  to  which  I  belong  possesses 
all  the  powers  of  the  Government.  I  have  a  strong  and  anxious 
desire  that  it  should  make  for  the  city  of  New  York  a  Government 
popular  in  its  form.  Mr.  Chairman,  I  am  not  afraid  of  the  stormy 
sea  of  popular  liberty.  I  still  trust  the  people.  We,  no  doubt,  have 
fallen  upon  evil  times.  We,  no  doubt,  have  had  many  occasions  for 
distrust  and  alarm  ;  but  I  still  believe  that,  in  the  activity  generated  by 
the  effectual  participation  of  the  people  in  the  administration  of  the 
Government,  you  would  have  MOEE  PUEITY  and  MOKE  SAFETY  than 
under  the  system  to  which  we  have  been  accustomed.  It  is  in  the  stagna 
tion  of  BUKEATIS  and  COMMISSIONS  that  evils  and  abuses  are  generated. 
The  storms  that  disturb  the  atmosphere  clear  and  purify  it.  It  will 
be  so  in  politics  and  municipal  administrations  if  we  will  only  trust 
the  people. 

The  bill  passed.  An  intenser  animosity  than  was  excited  against 
me  in  the  men  who  thus  grasped  an  irresponsible  despotism  over  this 
city  cannot  be  imagined.  Mr.  Tweed  threatened  to  Lieutenant- 
Governor  Beach  that  they  would  depose  me  from  the  State  Commit 
tee,  and  met  the  answer,  u  You  had  better  try  it." 


102  THE  LIFE   OF   SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

EEAL   NATURE    OF   THE   LAW. 

Let  us  pause  a  moment  to  consider  the  real  character  of  that  law, 
fraudulently  called  a  city  charter.  Mr.  Tweed's  case  will  illustrate 
its  operation.  He  had  never  been  able  to  become  Street  Commis 
sioner.  Charles  G.  Cornell  was  appointed  to  that  office  by  a  Republi 
can  mayor,  and  Mr.  Tweed  made  deputy.  When  the  office  became 
vacant,  Mayor  Hoffman  could  not  be  induced  to  appoint  Mr.  Tweed. 
George  W.  McLean  was  appointed,  and  Mr.  Tweed  remained  deputy. 
He  had  now  been  turned  out  as  deputy,  and  could  not  get  back.  On 
the  loss  of  his  office,  all  his  political  power  turned  to  dust  and  ashes. 

The  Tweed  charter  vacated  the  office  of  Street  Commissioner'and 
of  the  functionaries  of  the  Croton  Department,  within  five  days,  vest 
ing  all  their  powers  in  a  Commissioner  of  Public  Works,  and  required 
Mr.  A.  Oakey  Hall  to  appoint  that  commissioner.  It  was  known  to 
everybody  that  Mr.  Tweed  was  to  be  appointed.  The  act  passed  on 
the  5th,  and  on  the  9th  Mr.  Tweed  was  appointed.  His  term  was 
four  years.  The  power  of  the  Governor  to  remove  him  on  charges 
was  repealed,  and  all  powers  of  removal  by  the  city  government. 
Impeachment  was  restricted  by  the  condition  that  the  mayor  alone 
could  prefer  charges,  and  trial  could  only  be  had  if  every  one  of  the 
six  judges  of  the  Common  Pleas  was  present. 

ILLUSTRATION. 

In  ancient  times  offices  were  conferred  by  grant  from  the  sover 
eign.     This  was  conferred  by  grant  from  the  State. 
Let  us  suppose  the  act  had  run  in  these  words : 

"  We,  the  People  of  the  State  of  New  York,  represented  in  Senate 
and  Assembly,  do,  by  our  Supreme  Legislative  authority,  hereby  grant 
to  William  M.  Tweed  the  office  of  Commissioner  of  Public  Works ; 
and  annex  thereto,  in  addition  to  the  powers  heretofore  held  by  the 
Street  Commissioner,  all  the  powers  heretofore  held  by  the  various 
officers  of  the  Croton  Department,  TO  HAVE  AND  TO  HOLD  the  same 
for  four  years,  with  the  privilege  of  extending  the  term  by  surrender 
ing  any  remnant  thereof,  and  receiving  a  reappointment  for  a  further 
new  term  of  four  years ;  which  office  shall  be  free  and  discharged  of 
the  power  of  the  Governor  to  remove  for  cause  on  charges,  as  in  the 
case  of  sheriffs,  and  of  all  powder  of  removal  by  the  city  government; 
and  absolutely  of  all  accountability  whatsoever,  unless  Mayor  Hall,  or 
some  successor,  shall  choose  to  prefer  articles  of  impeachment  to  the 
Court  of  Common  Pleas,  and  unless  all  the  six  judges  shall  attend  to 
try  such  articles." 

I  aver  that  such  was  exactly  the  operation  of  that  act.     The  legal 


OVERTHROW   OF   THE   TAMMANY   "RING."  103 

effect  and  the  practical  working  of  the  act  were  identically  the  same 
as  if  it  had  been  expressed  in  these  words. 

THE    "  KING  "    ENTHRONED    OVER    THE    CITY. 

In  like  manner,  the  offices  of  three  of  the  five  heads  of  the  parks 
were  granted  for  five  years  to  Peter  B.  Sweeney,  Thomas  0.  Fields, 
and  Henry  Hilton,  giving  them  the  control  of  the  Central  Park  and 
every  park  in  the  city,  and  of  the  boulevards ;  suppressing  Mr. 
Green,  and  removing  Messrs.  Stebbins,  Russell,  and  Blatchford.  The 
office  of  Chamberlain  was  granted  to  Mr.  John  J.  Bradley.  The 
Department  of  Police  was  granted  for  from  five  to  eight  years  to 
Messrs.  Henry  Smith',  B.  F.  Manierre,  Bosworth,  and  Brennan.  The 
Departments  of  Health,  Fire,  Excise,  Charities,  Docks,  and  Build 
ings,  were  granted  to  others.  By  an  amendment  passed  twenty 
days  later,  Mr.  Connolly  and  Mr.  O'Gorman  were  brought  into  the 
same  category. 

Such  a  concentration  of  powers  over  this  city  was  never  before 
held  by  any  set  of  men  or  any  party  as  was  thus  vested  in  the 
"  Ring." 

The  true  character  of  this  fraudulent  measure  was  at  once  fully 
exposed.  The  issue  was  made  by  Messrs.  Schultz,  Bailey,  Varnum, 
Greeley,  and  others,  and  by  the  Union  League  Club.  All  the  feat 
ures  of  the  act  were  pointed  out  in  their  resolutions  and  remon 
strated  against.  They  were  discussed,  condemned,  and  denounced, 
in  my  speech  published  at  the  time.  They  were  ably  exposed  by  the 
World,  the  Evening  Post,  the  Sun,  and  the  Tribune. 

THE    MEANS. 

It  would  seem  incredible  that  such  a  violation  of  the  rights  of 
the  people,  and  of  all  just  ideas  of  government,  even  if  these  ex 
traordinary  grants  had  been  to  the  best  men  in  the  community,  could 
be  passed.  No  such  thing  would  have  been  even  excusable,  unless 
for  a  short  time  as  a  temporary  dictatorship  in  a  public  extremity. 
It  was  adopted  as  a  permanent  measure  ;  and  the  grant  was  to  men 
who  were  the  objects  of  suspicion ;  who,  in  little  more  than  a  year 
afterward,  were  hunted  from  human  society,  as  well  as  from  office 
— some  of  whom  were  or  are  in  exile — and  others  of  whom  are  now 
arraigned  by  the  State  in  civil  and  criminal  actions. 

The  air  was  full  of  rumors  of  corruption.  The  great  public 
trusts,  involving  the  interests,  safety,  and  honor  of  a  million  of  peo- 


104  THE   LIFE   OF  SAMUEL   J.  TILDEN. 

pie,  had  been  divided  up  as  bribes.  It  was  everywhere  said  that  the 
crime  had  taken  a  grosser  form ;  and  that  Senators  and  Assembly 
men  had  been  bought  with  money  to  vote  for  this  iniquity.  A  year 
later  it  was  stated  in  the  newspapers,  on  the  authority  of  Judge 
Noah  Davis,  as  derived  from  a  well-known  member  of  the  lobby, 
that  the  price  paid  to  six  leading  Republican  Senators  was  to  each 
ten  thousand  dollars  for  the  charter,  and  five  thousand  for  the  kin 
dred  bills  of  the  session,  and  five  thousand  for  similar  services  next 
year. 

Shortly  after  this  revelation,  while  the  revolt  of  forty  thousand 
Democrats  in  this  city  was  taking  its  representation  away  from'  the 
"  Ring,"  the  Republicans  of  the  interior  were  re'electing  five  of  these 
six  Senators  as  their  contribution,  with  many  other  similar  charac 
ters,  to  the  "  Reform  "  Legislature.  Those  five  Senators  now  sit  in 
the  highest  seats  of  the  Grant  Republican  Sanhedrim  at  Albany. 

The  Times  has  for  a  long  while  been  as  "  still  as  a  mouse  "  about 
them. 

WHO    BETRAYED    THE    CITY  ? 

There  have  been  two  great  battles  against  the  "  Ring."  The  first 
was  in  Albany  in  April,  1870.  That  was  to  prevent  the  "•  Ring," 
while  only  objects  of  suspicion,  from  being  enthroned  in  absolute 
dominion  over  the  people  of  this  city.  The  loss  of  that  battle  made 
no  change  possible  until  the  Senate  could  be  changed.  The  election 
for  Senators  did  not  come  until  November,  1871.  Then  was  the  sec 
ond  great  battle — made  necessary  by  the  loss  of  the  first. 

Who  was  responsible  for  that  disastrous  day,  when  the  beginning 
of  the  crimes  afterward  discovered  was  shrouded  in  darkness  and 
their  larger  development  made  possible  ?  Was  it  Mr.  Tilden  ?  Mr. 
O'Conor  ?  Mr.  Hewitt?  Did  their  "  respectability  cover  the  Ring's 
rascality,"  as  the  Times  charges? 

The  Times  itself  shall  answer. 

On  the  6th  of  April,  1870,  the  day  after  the  passage  of  the  act 
granting  New  York  City  to  the  "Ring,"  the  Times,  in  an  article 
headed  "Municipal  Reform,"  hailed  this  measure  as  a  reform;  de 
rided  the  Union  League  Club  and  Mr.  Greeley  with  their  "  entire 
lack  of  influence,"  in  that  "so  pronounced  an  expression"  against 
the  charter  had  not  "  been  heeded  l)y  at  least  one  Republican  Senator," 
and  said  that 

"If  it  shall  be  put  in  operation  by  Mayor  Hall,  with  that  regard 
to  the  general  welfare  which  we  have  reason  to  anticipate,  we  feel 


OVERTHROW  OF  THE   TAMMANY   "RING."  105 

sure  our  citizens  will  have  reason  to  count  yesterday's  work  in  the 
Legislature  as  most  important  and  salutary  " 

On  the  8th  it  declared  : 

"  Senator  Tweed  is  in  a  fair  way  to  distinguish  himself  as  a  re 
former  ;"  that  "he  had  put  the  people  of  Manhattan  Island  under 
great  obligations,"  etc.  ...  "  We  trust  that  Senator  Tweed  will 
manifest  the  same  energy  in  the  advocacy  of  this  last  reform  which 
marked  his  action  in  regard  to  the  charter" 

On  the  llth  it  published  Mayor  Hall's  instrument,  dated  the  9th, 
making  the  appointments  to  all  the  municipal  offices.  Among  them 
were  the  following : 

Department  of  Public  Works,  William  M.  Tweed. 

C  Peter  B.  Sweeney, 

"  Parks,       '       •]  Thomas  C.  Fields, 

(  Henry  Hilton. 

Police  \  Henry  Smith'  R  K  Manierre> 

\  Bosworth,  and  Brennan. 

Chamberlain John  J.  Bradley. 

And  so  on. 

On  the  12th  it  jeered  the  Union  League  Club,  Mr.  Greeley,  and 
Mr.  Tilden.  It  commented  on  a  remark  in  Mayor  Hall's  paper  mak 
ing  the  appointments,  in  which  he  said  he  would  have  been  politi 
cally  justified  in  conferring  them  all  on  Democrats  ;  and  replied 
"  that  the  Republicans  were  rather  useful  to  the  authors  of  the  new 
charter  in  the  recent  contest;"  that,  "but  for  the  Republicans,  the 
Young  Democracy  might  to-day  be  at  the  top  of  the  tree ;  "  that 
"Mayor  Hall  and  his  associates  will  doubtless  show  a  proper  appre 
ciation,  of  the  assistance  rendered  them  ly  the  Republicans  when  the 
enemy  were  crying  war  to  the  knife,  and  the  knife  to  the  hilt." 

I  On  the  13th  it  said:  "As  a  whole,  the  appointments  of  the  heads 
of  the  various  departments  of  the  city  government  which  have  been 
announced  by  the  mayor,  are  far  above  the  average  in  point  of  per 
sonal  fitness,  and  should  be  satisfactory.  We  feel  inclined  to  be 
tliaiikful,  if  not  entirely  satisfied  with  the  result." 

It  also  asserted  that  .the  charter  and  election  law  "  could  not  have 
been  secured  without  the  help  of  the  Republicans  in  the  Legislature^ 
and  hence,  THE  CREDIT  is  AS  MUCH  THEIRS  as  it  is  of  the  TWEED 
Democracy." 

The  "Ring"  having  possession  of  the  Tammany  Society,  in  which 
Mr.  Tilden  had  not  set  his  foot,  during  their  ascendency,  at  the  elec- 


106  THE   LIFE   OF  SAMUEL   J.  TILDEN". 

tion  of  April  18th,  put  up  a  sham  ticket  on  which  they  placed  the 
names  of  persons  whom  they  hated,  and  gave  it  a  few  of  their  own 
votes  to  exhibit  the  appearance  of  a  contest. 

On  the  19th  the  Times,  under  a  flaming  notice  headed  "  Now  is 
the  triumph  of  Tweed  complete,"  exulted  over  the  prostrate  Tilden, 

A.  H.  Green,  and  others,  "  heroes  of  the  O'Brien  faction." 

On  the  21st  of  May  it  had  a  commendatory  notice  of  Mr.  Peter 

B.  Sweeney,  presiding  over  a  meeting  of  the  Commissioners  of  Pub 
lic  Parks,  and  added,  "  that  lie  will  ~be  faithful  to  his  wor$  the  meet 
ing  yesterday  afforded  &fresli  guarantee" 

IMMEDIATE    CONSEQUENCES. 

The  5th  of  May  was  a  day  destined  to  be  famous  in  our  municipal 
annals.  Some  mysterious  and  insensible  influence  seemed  to  debili 
tate  the  tone  of  the  Times  in  its  utterance  that  morning.  It  spoke 
feebly  of  "  reforms  made  possible  by  the  recent  legislation  at  Albany." 
Was  the  atmosphere  dark  and  murky  with  what  was  going  on  in  the 
New  Oourt-House  at  the  same  moment  ? 

There  the  single  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Special  Audit  was  being 
held.  Hall,  and  Tweed,  and  Connolly,  were  making  the  order  for  the 
payment  of  the  $6,312,500,  of  which  scarcely  ten  per  cent,  in  value 
was  realized  by  the  city.  Tweed  got  twenty-four  per  cent.,  and  his 
agent,  Woodward,  seven.  The  brother  of  Sweeney,  ten;  Watson, 
seven ;  twenty  went  to  parties  not  yet  named  in  the  forms  of  legal 
proof ;  thirty-three  went  to  the  mechanics  who  furnished  the  bills, 
but  their  share  had  to  suffer  many  abatements.  Garvey  had  advanced, 
March  30,  $10,000  to  go  to  Albany;  and  again,  April  17,  $40,000, 
making  $50,000.  Ingersoll  also  had  to  send  $50,000  ;  Keyser,  $25,- 
000;  Miller,  $25,000;  Hall,  $25,000;  and  others  their  quotas;  and 
then  they  had  to  do  work  on  city  houses  and  country  houses,  and 
make  furniture,  and  to  paint,  to  supply  safes,  and  perform  miscella 
neous  services — out  of  their  third. 

As  the  time  advanced,  the  percentages  of  theft  mixed  in  the  bills 
grew.  Moderate  in  1869,  they  reach  sixty-six  per  cent,  in  1870,  and 
later  eighty-five  per  cent.  The  aggregate  of  fraudulent  bills,  after 
April  5,  1870,  was,  in  the  rest  of  that  year,  about  $12,250,000,  and  in 
1874  $3,400,000.  Nearly  fifteen  millions  and  three-quarters  of  fraudu 
lent  bills  were  the  booty  grasped  on  the  5th  of  April,  1870.  Four 
teen,  perhaps  fifteen  millions  of  it  were  sheer  plunder. 


OVERTHROW  OF  THE   TAMMANY   "RING."  107 

The  victory  of  the  5th  of  April  enabled  the  "Ring  "  to  cover  up 
what  had  been  already  stolen,  and  to  go  forward  on  a  far  larger  scale, 
and  commit  these  enormous  robberies. 

THE    SUMMER    OF    1870. 

The  Times  is  in  error  in  saying  that  its  "  daily,  incessant  attacks 
on  Tammany  began  in  the  summer  of  1870."  There  is  not  a.  word  of 
that  kind  in  its  editorials  in  all  that  summer.  Until  the  20th  of  Sep 
tember,  it  kept  "  still  as  a  mouse,"  as  it  says  Mr.  Tilden  did.  Then 
it  first  touched  the  subject  incidentally  to  an  article  on  the  Demo 
cratic  State  Convention  held  the  next  day. 

The  stillness  of  Mr.  Tilden  left  ringing  in  the  ears  of  the  people 
his  unavailing  protest  and  his  denunciation. 

The  stillness  of  the  Times  left  echoing  in  the  public  ear  its  boast 
that  "the  credit"  of  the  "Ring"  supremacy  belonged  "as  much  to 
the  Republicans  as  to  the  Tweed  Democracy" 

Three  days  later,  it  began  a  series  of  elaborate  attacks,  not  really 
upon  the  "Ring,"  but  upon  their  foe,  Mr.  Tilden.  It  accused  him 
of  "  going  to  Rochester  to  preside  over  Tweed's  convention  ;  "  and  it 
has  repeated  the  statement  many  times  lately.  The  truth  is,  he  did 
not  preside,  and  it  was  not  Tweed's  convention. 

It  was  my  official  duty  to  move  the  appointment  of  the  temporary 
chairman,  and  it  was  customary  to  precede  the  motion  by  an  address 
upon  national  or  State  politics.  That  I  did.  The  convention  was  a 
body  of  honorable  and  respected  gentlemen,  except  a  few  members 
of  the  "  Ring,"  who  got  in  as  delegates  by  means  of  the  power  and 
prestige  the  Times  had  helped  them  to  acquire,  and  in  whom  it  had 
expressed  its  confidence  after  their  then  recent  public  assumption  of 
the  municipal  offices. 

I  had  not  even  the  benefit  of  its  first  beginning  of  retraction. 
That  happened  after  I  had  gone  to  the  convention,  and  was  not  com 
municated  to  me  by  telegraph. 

To  have  staid  away  would  have  been  to  abandon  my  watch  and 
guard.  True  men,  in  the  intervals  of  battle,  rest  on  their  arms. 
They  do  not  run  away. 

But  the  Times  complains  that  I  did  not  denounce  the  "Ring"  in 
my  speech.  Neither  they  nor  their  doings  were  at  issue.  There  was 
no  new  suspicion  of  them 'after  they  had  been  accepted  as  rulers  of 
the  metropolis  by  the  nearly  unanimous  vote  of  both  Houses  of  the 
Legislature,  aided  by  the  Times.  The  general  public  had  acquiesced 


108  THE  LIFE   OF  SAMUEL    J.  TILDEN. 

in  the  disposition  to  try  them  again.  The  whole  press  assenteo!. 
Nearly  everybody  began  to  make  relations  with  them.  I  did.rtot. 
I  jstood  aloof.  The  Kepublican  State  Convention  had  been  held  two 
weeks  before.  Senator  Conkling,  Mr.  George  William  Curtis,  and 
others,  addressed  it;  but  not  one  of  them  had  a  word  to  say  about 
the  surrender  of  the  metropolis  to  an  autocracy  ;  or  of  the  character 
of  the  men  to  whom  this  ignominious  betrayal  had  been  made.  How 
could  they?  The  "  credit  "  of  it  was  "as  much  due"  to  "  the  Re 
publicans  as  to  the^Tw'eBd'Democracy."  t  fi}lS  T 
Nothing  was  left  me  to  do  but  to  await  the  issue  of  the  porten 
tous  experiment.  As  to  their  frauds  at  election,  I  had  no  means  of 
knowledge  more  than  other  citizens  ;  but  I  had  sent  to  Albany  a  care 
fully  prepared  election  law,  which  had  been  examined  and  approved 
by  leading  Republicans  of  this  city.  The  Republican  Senators  re 
jected  it,  and  took  Tweed's  election  law  with  Tweed's  charter. 
The  Times  boasted  over  this  election  law  as  "by  far  the  more  sub 
stantial  reform  of  the  two."  I  feel  scarcely  able  to  enter  into  the 
comparison  of  the  relative  merits  of  the  two  measures.  The  "  sub 
stantial  reform  "  known  as  the  election  law  was  the  means  by  which 
Mayor  Hall  acquired  such  immense  power  over  the  inspectors  and 
canvassers,  and  all  the  machinery  of  the  elections,  that  the  "Ring" 
began  to  think  they  could  get  along  without  the  voters.  It  sup 
pressed  the  opposition  of  the  practical  politicians  in  the  wards,  who 
saw  how  it  was  capable  of  being  worked.  In  the  contest  of  1871  it 
discouraged  them  from  joining  us  more  than  any  other  power  wielded 
by  the  "  Ring."  In  some  districts,  men  of  great  local  influence  open 
ly  said  it  was  of  no  use  to  run  a  ticket  so  long  as  that  power  could 
be  exercised  against  them.  The  Reformers  were  generally  appalled 
by  it.  U  had  confidence — because  I  counted  on  the  intensity  of  the 
popularMerment  as  likely  to  permeate  and  weaken  all  the  agencies 
of  the  "Ring,"  and  to  swell  the  wave  of  opposition  until  it  should 
V  sweep  over  all  artificial  obstructions.  ) 

If  the  value  of  a  thing  is  to  be  measured  by  what  it  costs,  we  are 
thrown  back  to  a  statement  made  to  Judge  Davis  of  the  price  paid 
to  the  leading  Republican  Senators.  Five  thousand  dollars  for  the 
election  law,  and  for  section  4  of  the  tax  levy,  under  which  the 
$6,000,000  of  the  special  audit  were  acquired,  was  perhaps  as  cheap 
as  $10,000  for  the  charter.  The  agents  of  the  Citizen^'  Association 
cost  only  a  few  offices.  The  Times  threw  itself  in  gratuitously^  My 
defense,  if  I  need  one,  for  not  stopping  the  "  Ring  "  from  cheating 


OVERTHROW  OF   THE   TAMMANY   "RING."  109 

at  elections,  is  that  I  tried  to  do  so  but  could  not.     I  was  beaten  by 
the  Eepublican  Senators  and  the  Times.  \ 

COURT    OF    APPEALS. 

Soon  after  the  disastrous  failure  to  secure  self-government  for  our 
people,  a  lawyer  of  this  city  came  to  me  and  said  that  the  best  thing 
for  me  to  do  was,  to  endeavor  to  secure  a  good  Court  of  Appeals. 
My  recollection  is,  that  the  general  term  for  this  department,  two  of 
the  three  members  of  which  have  since  been  expelled  for  corruptio'n, 
had,  at  that  time,  just  been  constituted.  I  felt  that  to  make  civil 
rights  safe  in  the  second  and  last  appeal  was  of  great  value,  and  set 
about  the  work.  In  the  mean  time,  a  distinguished  gentleman  from 
the  interior  came  to  propose  to  me  to  run  as  Chief  Judge  of  the  new 
court,  and  to  assure  me  of  a  support  which  I  understood  would 
carry  with  it  the.  State  administration  and  everything,  jealous  of  or 
hostile  to  me  throughout  the  State.  It  was  evident  that  I  was  con 
sidered  less  dangerous  at  the  head  of  the  court  than  at  the  head  of 
the  State  Committee.  I  answered  that  I  thought  I  should  not  be 
dependent  on  any  such  help  if  I  desired  the  nomination  ;  but  that  it 
was  not  in  accord  with  my  plan  of  life  to  desire  or  take  the  office. 
I  did  issue  a  private  appeal  for  the  formation  of  a  good  c*ourt  to 
nearly  all  the  Democratic  lawyers  of  the  State,  and  to  other  promi 
nent  men.  Many  of  the  foremost  members  of  the  bar  came  to  the 
convention,  and  we  nominated  and  elected  five  of  the  seven  mem 
bers  of  a  court  which  has  the  complete  confidence  of  the  bar  and 
the  people.  After  the  judicial  election  I  went  on  business  into  dis 
tant  States  until  late  in  the  summer. 


WINTER    OF    1871. 

y  I  did  not  set  my  foot  in  Albany  during  the  session  of  1871.  The 
Times  frequently  said,  "  Such  men  as  Mr.  Samuel  Tilden  have  no  real 
influence."  If  the  Times  meant  no  influence  in  what  was  then  the 
political  and  legislative  Sodom  of  the  State,  there  is  no  exaggeration  in 
the  assertion.  Men  who  are  bought  on  great  questions  are  in  no 
situation  to  disobey  on  inferior  matters  which  are  really  insisted  on. 
\Mr.  Tweed  was  never  so  supreme  over  nearly  the  whole  body  of  the 
Republican  members,  and,  with  their  aid,  could  despise  or  suppress 
and  punish  every  revolt  on  the  Democratic  side.  \  And  he  had  acquired 
the  prestige  of  successful  power.  The  Democrats  had  not  in  either 


IK)  TIH-:    UKK    OK    SAMUKI,   .1.  TILDKN. 

House  one  vote  l.o  spare  from  the  number  neeessnry  to  pjiHH  a  bill. 
lillt.  Mr.  Tweed  WHS  no  worse  oil"  Mini,  lie  W.MH  completely  dependent 
on  his  alliances  \villi  the  Republicans.  Nearly  every  had  measure 
P.I  .«|  vviMioiil,  any  opposition,  or  with  only  n.  Hliuin  opposition.  The 
TYfttM)  on  olio  OOOft0iOD|  OOmpluinod  Mint  the  root  of  the  evil  WUH  in 
the  apathy  Of  the  BepubUoan  party  of  the  city.  Them  WHS  force  iii 
the  statement.  The  .piv jii'l ieeM,  the  party  passions,  the  interests  of 
ambitious  men,  make  the  opposition  tin-  nuturul  organ  of  the  discon 
tents  of  society  with  the  ascendant  power,  which  ut  thin  time  liud 
•Ome  pretext  for  culling  ilHulf  Deinocrutic,  though,  in  truth,  it  \\nsn 
41  RiiiK"  of  both  partieH.  The  coniliiiuition  hn<l  nuch  control  ove.rtlio 
Republloani  nt  Albany  mid  in  this  city,  Mint  n,  revolution  in  the 
Republican  party  wan  necessary  to  crcntc  an  opposition;  mid,  with 
out  mi  opposition,  diHHcnting  Deinoeruts  were  powerless.  In  ntiin- 
alati&g  the  party  nniiuoHity  of  th«  licpublicans,  even  though  by 
vague  appenlH,  or  if  for  merely  partisan  ends,  the  7'hncn  rendered 
vnluublo  Nurvioo  in  ft  propurution  for  the  fulur<\  Hut.  rime  wns  no- 

oeuary. 

It  is  wholly  untrue  that  at  nny  nionuMit.  I  was  timid,  or  Hellinhly 
roHorvod,  or  nhrniik  from  any  roH|>onsibility. 

I  niik  tiot  a  newspaper  whose  biisiiu^s  it  is  to  address  (lie  public. 
every  day  ;  wboso  recurring  want  more  than  meat  or  bread  is  a  topic, ; 
and  to  whom  invective,  even  if  without  facts  or  evidence,  provided 
it  makes  a  sensation,  is  money  nioiv  money  in  circulation  and  adver 
tisements.  Men  not  of  the  editorial  avocation  have  to  turn  from 
their  ordinary  duties  and  habits  when  they  appear  before  the  public, 
and  it  is  only  on  few  occasions  that  they  find  the  forum  or  the  oppor 
tunity  or  the  leisure.  How  many  times  did  Mr.  William  A.  Booth, 
who  is  mentioned  with  commendation  by  the  '/'iinc.t,  and  is  truly  an 
excellent  cit i/.en,  or  Mr.  .Ine.kson  Sehull/,,  <>r  even  Mr.  Kvurts,  appear 
•  luiiu"  this  period  {  I  \\ill  not  ask  ahuul  the  chairman  of  the  !>'<• 
publican  State  Committee.  It  is  safe  lo  conjecture  that  he  was  run- 
niii!1,  of  eri.'iiul:)  for  some  branch  of  the  "  Ring,"  and  serving  around 
the  legislative  halls  for  what  arc  daintily  termed  counsel  lees. 

I  would  have  had  a  perfect  right  to  wait  until  that  ll  Ring  "  domin 
ion  ovor  our  million  of  people,  which  the  '/'iini'.t  boasted  was  "  ns 
much"  tho  Work  of  "the  Republicans"  as  of  the  "Tweed  Democra 
cy,"  had  matured  its  falal  fruits,  before  1  should  again  renew  Mie 
'battle  which  had  been  once  betrayed  and  lost.  Hut,  nevertheless,  on 
some  occasions  I  did  intervene. 


OVERTHROW    OF  TIIU   TAMMANY   "  RIN<J."  ]|| 

HCIIOOI,    HYKTICM. 

The  revolution  of  tin-  school  system,  in  tho  winter  of  1871,  wiw 
the  favorite  scheme  of  the  master  spirit  of  the  u  Ring."  I  publicly 

oondemndd  it. 

CO  HI''.    AMKM>MKNT. 

The  |)rovisioii  of  the  Code  Amendment,  hill  which  conferred  on 
tho  judges  n,  transcendent  authority  to  punish  for  what  they  might, 
choose  to  consider  ;is  contempts,  was  the  measure  which  was  to  :ip 
ply  coercion  l,o  the  press  mid  (,o  speakers  who  should  attack  the 
"  King."  What  the  I  wo  millions  :i.  year  of  advertisements,  open  to 
ho  given  or  recalled  ut  the  will  of  Mayor  Null,  should  fail  to  win,  thin 
nummary  power  —  -sinco  nndei'stood  to  h;ive  heen  devised  liy  Ourdozo, 
ftlld  (U'Ni'fned  to  he  wielded  hy  him  iind  r.;irn;ird  W.'is  t,o  COIKJIMM'. 
It  w.'is  snid — I  know  not  with  wluit  truth  to  he  speci;dl_y  ninied  jit, 
(Jie  Tiini-n.  Trohuhly  ni;inv  :iu  :irlie|e  of  th;if  joiini;il  in  the  spring 
of  IH7I,  which  Hcenied  to  MIC.  public  t<>  be  \;iv;ne  :md  w.'intin;';  in 
dolinito  facts,  h:id  point  nn»ii;,'li  l«»  the  men  who  knew  they  had 
Htolen  fourteen  millions  since  it  helped  them  into  power.  At  any 
rato,  this  scheme  was  (he  desperate  resource  of  a  domination,  hold 
and  blind,  as  it  was  ripening  for  n  l';dl.  In  if  were  eoncentnited  tho 
fe.-irs  ,'ind  ho|ies  of  the  "  iJin'1;."  If  was  pussed  without  a  dissenting 
voice,  in  either  House.  Kvery  Kepiihlicaii  member  voted  for  it  or 
Ktiiid  a.way.  The  chnirimin  of  the  committee  of  conference,  who 
miinuMivred  it,  through,  was  a,  Kepiiblicnn  Sen;itor,  who  a,dmittc(l 
last  year  tho  "borrowing"  in  one  instance  of  $10,000  from  Mr. 
Tweed,  which  had  not  heen  repaid. 

One  evening  in  May,  when  I  was  temporarily  confined  to  my 
house,  by  illness,  Mr.  Kandolph  Kobinson  called  to  ask  me  to  be 
chairman  of  a  committee  of  the  l>ar  Association  lo  go  to  Alhany'and 
ronio nst, rate  with  (Jovernor  lloll'man  against,  his  signing  this  hill.  I 
declined  to  bo  chairman,  but  assented  that,  the  me. -I  in-  mi:-;lit  put,  me 
on  Ihe  commitlee,  if  it,  chose  to  do  Ho,  with  the  knowledge  I, hat,  I 
could  not  go;  and  said  that  I  would  write,  a.  letter  against  the  bill. 

On  .second  t, bought,  a,  hurried  note  was  addressed  to  Mr.  Kvarls, 
who  was  chairman,  I  hat,  it,  might  be.  sure,  of  publication.  It  was 
paraded  in  Ihe  foreground  of  the  controversy.  It  and  its  writer 
were  constantly  cited  by  the.  Tinn'H.  An  issue  was  publicly  declared 
from  which  everybody  knew  I  would  not  retire.  If  tho  bill  bad  not 
heen  vetoed,  an  open  collision  must  have  spread  all  over  the.  State. 


112  THE  LIFE   OF  SAMUEL   J.  TILDEN. 

After  I  had  taken  my  position,  I  received  assurances  of  cooperation, 
in  such  a  controversy,  from  Francis  Kernan  and  others. 

THE    CONTEST    OF    1871. 

The  7th  of  November,  1871$  was  the  first  day  when  a  vote  of  the 
people  could  even  indirectly  retrieve  the  results  of  the  legislation  of 
'  April  5,  1870. 

STRONG   POSITION    OF   THE    "  KING "   IN   THE   CITY. 

Mr.  Tweed  was  in  his  office  until  April,  1874;  Connolly  until  1875, 
and  Sweeney  until  1875.  They,  with  the  mayor,  were  vested  with 
the  exclusive  legal  power  of  appropriating  all  moneys  raised  by 
taxes  or  by  loans,  and  an  indefinite  authority  to  borrow.  Practically, 
they  held  all  power  of  municipal  legislation,  and  all  power  of  ex 
pending  as  well  as  of  appropriating  moneys.  They  had  filled  the  de 
partments  with  their  dependents  for  terms  equally  long. 

They  wielded  the  enormous  patronage  of  offices  and  contracts. 
They  swayed  all  the  institutions  of  local  government — the  local  judi 
ciary — the  unhappily-localized  portion  of  the  State  judiciary,  which 
includes  the  Circuit  Courts,  the  Oyer  and  Terminers,  the  Special 
Terms  and  the  General  Terms;  in  a  word,  everything  below  the 
Court  of  Appeals.  They  also  controlled  the  whole  machinery  of 
elections.  New  York  City — with  its  million  of  people — with  its 
concentration  of  vast  interests  of  individuals  in  other  States  and  in 
foreign  countries — with  its  conspicuous  position  before  the  world — 
had  practically  no  power  of  self-government.  It  was  ruled,  and  was 
to  be  ruled,  so  long  as  the  terms  of  these  offices  continued — from 
four  to  eight  years — as  if  it  were  a  conquered  province.  The  central 
source  of  all  this  power  was  Albany.  The  system  emanated  from 
Albany.  It  could  only  be  changed  at  Albany. 

In  my  speech  at  the  Cooper  Institute,  in  1871,  I  said : 

"  They  stripped  every  legislative  power  and  every  executive  power, 
and  all  the  powers  of  government,  from  us,  and  vested  them  in  half 
a  dozen  men  for  a  period  of  from  four  to  eight  years,  who  held,  and 
were  to  hold,  supreme  dominion  over  the  people  of  this  city. 

"I  heard  my  friend  Mr.  Choate  say  that  the  men  in  power  had 
been  elected  by  your  suffrage.  I  am  sure  that  was  a  slip  of  the 
tongue.  The  men  in  power  were  elected  by  no  man's  suffrage. 
They  never  could  have  been  elected  by  any  man's  suffrage.  Jjjey 
.were  put  in  power  by  the  act  of  the  Senate  and  Assembly  of  the 
State  of  New  York,  without  consulting  us  or  any  of  us.  The  ground 
that  I  had  taken  is  that,  as  the  State  had  put  f'/n-w  men  o/<  //.«',  Hie 


OVERTHROW   OF  THE   TAMMANY   "RING."  H3 

State  mmt  TAKE  THEM  OFF.  That  is  the  reason  I  differ  from  my 
Democratic  friends  of  the  rural  districts,  who  say : 

"  '  What,  will  you  carry  a  local  controversy  into  the  State  Conven 
tion?  Will  you  carry  it  into  the  politics  of  the  State,  and  distract 
and  disorganize  the  Democratic  party  ? ' 

"I  answered:  'It  is  too  late  to  consider  that  question.  For  ten 
years  the  Democratic  party  has  pledged  itself  to  give  back  to  New 
York  the  rights  of  self-government,  and  when  it  came  into  power 
it  betrayed  that  pledge  and  violated  that  duty.' 

"Alone  I  went  to  the  city  of  Albany,  and  recorded  my  protest 
against  the  outrage.  .  .  .  The  plan  was  cunningly  contrived  and 
skillfully  executed,  but  owed  its  success  to  a  disregard  of  all  moral 
obligations  and  all  restraints  of  honor  or  principle.  How  was  it 
accomplished?  By  taking  a  million  dollars,  stolen  from  the  tax 
payers,  and  buying  in  the  shambles  a  majority  in  the  two  Houses  of 
the  Legislature. 

"  When  I  spoke  against  this  charter  before  a  committee  of  the 
Senate,  Mr.  Tweed  sitting  in  the  chair,  I  already  knew  that  not  more 
than  one  vote  of  the  Democrats,  and  not  more  than  one  vote  of  the 
Republicans,  would  be  cast  against  it ;  but  I  felt  it  to  be  my  duty  to 
the  people  of  New  York,  and  to  the  Democratic  party,  to  record  my 
protest  against  what  I  then  deemed  a  crime  against  us,  and  a  be 
trayal  of  our  principles." 

The  officers  composing  the  "Ring"  government  of  this  city  could 
not  be  removed,  or  their  power  curtailed  or  limited,  except  by  new 
legislation.  Such  legislation  could  only  be  made  by  the  concurrent 
action  of  the  Assembly,  Senate,  and  Governor.  J 

If  they  could  hold  enough  of  the  Senators  to  defeat  the  passage 
of  a  bill  changing  this  state  of  things,  they  could  resist  public  opinion, 
and  defy  the  vote  of  the  people  of  this  city,  which  might  spend  it 
self,  without  results,  upon  aldermen  and  assistants,  totally  without 
power ;  and  on  a  mayor,  having  little  legal  authority,  and  capable  of 
being  nothing  more  than  a  subordinate  instrument  of  the  executive 
departments. 

CEISIS    OF    THE    CONTEST. 

The  Senators  who  had  voted  on  the  5th  of  April,  1870,  with  but 
two  dissenting  voices,  to  create  this  state  of  things,  did  not  come 
within  the  reach  of  the  people  until  the  election  of  the  7th  of  No 
vember,  1871,  when  their  successors  were  to  be  chosen. 

The  5th  of  April,  1870,  and  the  7th  of  November,  1871,  wena 
the  two  days  of  battle.  The  intervening  time  was  but  the  interval 
between  two  battles.  The  period  which  preceded  the  election  of  the 
7th  of  November,  1871,  was  important  and  valuable  only  as  a  time 
of  preparation. 


114  THE   LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

PIVOT   OF    THE   CONTEST. 

The  objective  point  of  the  battle  was  the  legislative  power  of  the 
State — the  Senators  and  Assemblymen. 

"KING"  PLAN  OF  THE  CAMPAIGN. 

The  "King"  saw  that.  Early  there  came  to  me  prominent  gen 
tlemen  from  the  interior  to  propose  that  I  should  name  all  'ie  dele 
gates  to  the  State  Convention  to  be  sent  by  the  Tammany  organiza 
tion  ;  and  so  have  no  contest.  The  object  of  the  "  Ring  "  was  to 
retain  the  prestige  of  "  regularity  "  in  aid  of  the  election  of  their 
nominees  as  Senators  and  Assemblymen.  If  they  could  hold  the 
five  Senators  from  this  city,  they  had  no  misgivings  about  holding 
the  Republican  Senators  from  the  country.  At  last,  when  I  consent 
ed  to  have  a  conference  with  one  of  them  on  the  basis  of  a  resigna 
tion  of  all  city  offices,  and  a  withdrawal  from  the  Democratic  city 
organization,  and  all  political  leadership,  the  surrender  on  my  terms 
was  refused ;  and  their  reliance  on  holding  the  Senate,  BY  MEANS  OF 
EIGHT  REPUBLICAN  SENATORS  already  secured  to  Mr.  Tweed,  was 
avowed. 

A  passage  of  my  speech  at  the  Cooper  Institute  is  reported  as 
follows : 

"  Mr.  Tweed's  plan  is  to  carry  the  senatorial  representation  from 
this  city,  and  then  to  reelect  eight,  and,  if  possible,  twelve  of  the 
Republican  Senators  from  the  rural  districts  whom  he  bought  and 
paid  for  last  year,  and  to  control  all  the  legislation  that  might  be  pre 
sented  there  in  your  behalf ;  and  it  was  lecause  I  had  some  misgiv 
ings  that  this  might  ~be  done  that  I  thought  it  was  my  duty  personally 
to  take  the  field  and  help  you  in  this  conflict.  (Applause.) 

"  If  I  had  felt  that  the  Republicans  could  have  carried  the  thing 
of  themselves,  it  would  have  been  pleasanter  and  easier  for  me  to  have 
stepped  aside  and  let  them  do  it.  I  felt  it  to  be  my  duty  to  .the  honest 
masses  of  the  Democracy,  and  still  more  to  the  people — for  party  is 
of  no  value  unless  it  can  serve  the  people  faithfully  and  effectually 
— to  take  my  stand  with  the  advanced  columns  of  reform  and  good 
government — to  take  my  place  there,  and  stand  or  fall  with  those 
who  gather  round  me."  (Applause.)  • 

MY    PLAN    OF    THE    CAMPAIGN. 

My  plan  of  the  campaign  was  in  a  single  idea.  It  was  to  take 
away  from  the  "  Ring "  the  Senators  and  Assemblymen  from  this 
city.  That  was  to  storm  the  central  stronghold  on  which  their  lines 
rested,  while  they  were  extending  their  operations  over  the  whole 
State. 


OVERTHROW   OF  THE  TAMMANY   "RING."  H5 

Their  allies  throughout  the  State  in  both  parties  would  be  ren 
dered  powerless,  or  be  dispersed.  I  feared  most  their  allies  in  the 
Republican  party.  As  it  was,  the  Assembly  was  largely  made  up  of 
men  who  had  got  themselves  nominated  by  the  Republicans  in  the 
expectation  that  Tweed  would  come  back — and  such  golden,  or 
rather  greenback  showers,  as  he  had  scattered  during  the  two  previ 
ous  sessions,  would  descend  upon  them. 

Offers  of  a  surrender  of  all  part  in  the  State  Convention  and 
in  the  State  organization  were  continually  made  in  every  form ; 
and  weighty  pressure  was  brought  on  me  from  powerful  men  all 
over  the  State  to  accept  it,  and  so  "  save  the  party."  I  uniformly 
asked,  "  Who  is  to  have  the  five  Senators  and  twenty-one  Assembly 
men  ?  "  In  a  speech  at  the  State  Convention  I  made  this  issue.  I 
said  that  the  object  of  endeavoring  to  get  a  recognition  of  the  or 
ganization  then  controlled  by  the  "Ring,"  or  of  avoiding  its  direct 
repudiation,  was  "to  go  lack  and  nominate  twenty -one  members  of 
Assembly  and  five  Senators,  and  then  to  say  to  the  uprising  masses 
of  the  best  intellect  and  moral  worth  of  the  people,  "  If  you  do 
not  vote  this  ticket  you  are  out  of  the  Democratic  party."  I  denied 
that  the  system  of  organization  then  in  use  in  the  city  had  any  moral 
right  to  be  considered  regular,  or  to  bind  the  Democratic  masses.  I 
avowed  before  the  convention  that  I  would  not  vote  for  any  one  of 
its  nominees  as  Assemblymen  or  Senators. 

In  my  speech  at  Cooper  Institute  I  said:  "A  great  many  times 
that  offer  was  repeated,  and  everything  was  tendered  me  except  the 
Senate  and  Assembly  of  the  State  of  New  York;  but  I  said  that 
everything  else  was  of  no  value  for  them  to  give,  and  of  no  value  for  me 
to  take ;  that  the  legislation  which  should  be  made  in  respect  to  the 
city  government,  whatever  else  I  would  compromise,  that  I  could  not 
compromise,  and  I  WOULD  NOT.  ^Applause.)  I  told  the  State  Con 
vention — being  the  nominal  head  of  the  Democratic  party  of  this 
State — for  the  sake  of  perfect  frankness  and  distinctness,  and  in  order 
that  I  might  not  be  misunderstood — I  told  them  that  I  felt  it  to  be 
my  duty  to  oppose  any  man  who  would  not. go  for  making  the  govern 
ment  of  this  city  tchat  it  ought  to  be,  at  whatever  cost,  at  whatever 
sacrifice.  If  they  did  not  deem  that  'regular,'  I  would  resign  as 
chairman  of  the  State  Committee,  and  take  my  place  in  the  ranks  of 
my  plundered  fellow-citizens,  and  help  them  to  FIGHT  THEIR  BATTLE 

OF  EMANCIPATION." 

On  this  issue  I  staked  my  political  existence  and  all  my  party  re- 


116  THE   LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.   TILDEN. 

lations  throughout  the  State.  I  threw  myself  into  the  breach,  in 
order  to  inspire  courage  in  the  Democratic  masses  of  the  city  to  break 
away  from  the  prestige  of  a  pretended  but  sham  "regularity." 

HOW  TO  OVERTHROW  THE  "  RING "  IN  THE  POPULAE  VOTE  OF  THE 

CITY. 

There  was  a  Democratic  majority  in  the  city  of  at  least  40,000  or 
50,000,  if  all  the  honest,  and  only  the  honest,  votes  should  be  polled. 
The  party  organization  in  the  city,  which  had  been  accepted  by  the 
State  Convention  for  years,  in  preference  to  the  other  organizations 
that  had  competed  with  it,  had  fallen  into  the  complete  possession 
of  the  "Ring,"  and  had  been  made  a  close  corporation,  within  which 
no  contest  could  be  waged  against  them,  so  long  as  they  held  so  vast 
official  power  and  patronage.  All  rival  organizations,  and  nearly  all 
spirit  of  opposition,  had  been  crushed  out  under  the  operation  of  the 
enormous  centralized  dominion  derived  from  Albany. 

The  despondency  and  disbelief  in  the  possibility  of  carrying  the 
election  in  the  city  against  the  nominees  who  would  be  in  the  interest 
of  the  "Ring"  were  deep,  almost  universal,  and  hopeless. 

It  is  seldom  that  ten  per  cent,  of  any  party  scratch  the  regular 
ticket. 

To  the  Democratic  masses  it  was  said,  not  only  that  the  accused 
persons  were  innocent,  but  that,  even  if  they  were  guilty,  a  great 
organization  ought  not  to  be  destroyed  for  the  wrong  of  a  few  indi 
viduals  ;  that  the  party  was  not  responsible  for  them,  and  that  the 
particular  nominees  were  good  men. 

How  were  the  votes  of  twenty,  or  thirty,  or  forty,  thousand  rank- 
and-file  Democrats  to  be  detached? 

Nothing  short  of  an  organized  revolt  of  the  Democratic  masses, 
under  the  best  Democratic  lead,  wjth  the  most  effective  measures, 
and  with  some  good  fortune,  could  accomplish  so  difficult  a  work 
against  such  extraordinary  powers  as  were  combined  to  uphold  the 
existing  system. 

The  £rst  measure  necessary  was  to  break  the  prestige  ofjthe  or 
ganization  which  the  "  Ring  "  controlled  as  the  representative  of  _flie 
party  in  the  eyes  of  its  masses. ;  to  do  this  by  the  act  of  the  State 
Convention. 

That  was  no  easy  matter.  To  able  men  who  sympathized  with 
me  it  seemed  impossible.  It  proved  even  more  difficult  than  I  ex 
pected.  A  party  in  power  is  naturally  disposed  to  risk  the  continu- 


OVERTHROW   OF  THE   TAMMANY   "KING."  117 

ance  of  abuses  rather  than  to  hazard  the  extreme  remedy  of  "  cutting 
them  out  bj  the  roots."  The  executive  power  of  the  State  and  all 
its  recently-enlarged  official  patronage  were  exerted  against  such  a 
policy.  And  since  the  contest  of  1869  the  "  Ring  "  had  studied  to 
extend  its  influence  on  the  rural  districts,  and-  had  showered  legisla 
tive  favors  as  rf  they  were  ordinary  patronage.  Without  having,  or 
having  had  for  years,  the  power  to  give  an  office  in  city  or  State,  I 
stood  on  the  traditions  of  the  older  leaders,  and  the  moral  sense  of 
the  honest  masses  of  the  Democratic  party. 

THE    TIME    WHEN    I    ACTED. 

The  publication  by  the  Times  of  what  is  called  the  "  Secret  Ac 
counts  "  was  completed  on  the  29th  of  July.  They  consisted  of 
copies,  made  by  a  clerk,  of  entries  in  a  book  kept  in  the  office  of  the 
Comptroller.  They  showed  the  dates  and  amounts  of  certain  pay 
ments  made  by  the  Comptroller,  with  a  brief  description  of  the  ob 
jects,  and  the  names  of  the  persons  to  whom  the  payments  were 
made. 

The  enormous  amounts,  compared  with  the  times  and  purposes, 
and  the  recurrence  of  the  same  names,  created  a  moral  conviction  of 
gross  frauds,  though,  of  course,  not  amounting  to  judicial  proof 
against  anybody,  on  which  a  criminal  or  civil  action  would  lie,  or  dis 
closing  the  real  principals  in  the  fraudulent  transactions. 

I  soon  became  satisfied  of  the  substantial  truth  of  these  state 
ments,  by  the  futility  of  the  answers  on  behalf  of  the  city  officers,, 
and  by  cross-examining  a  financial  gentleman  who  came  to  me  with 
a  letter  from  a  distinguished  citizen,  and  the  form  of  a  call  for  a  pub 
lic  meeting  which  he  wished  me  to  head.  The  statements  made  me 
believe  that  municipal  frauds  had  been  committed,  immeasurably 
transcending  anything  I  had  ever  suspected  ;  and  they  furnished  a  sort 
of  evidence  capable  of  acting  strongly  upon  the  popular  mind.  \I  am, 
a  believer  in  the  potency  of  definite  facts  in  making  an  impression  on 
the  public!  For  that  purpose,  I  had  rather  have  one  fact  than  a  col 
umn  of  rhetoric.  The  publication  was  made  just  as  I  was  going  into 
the  country.  In  two  or  three  days  there,  I  formed  my  programme. 

ME.    KEENAX. 

For  so  difficult  a  movement  in  the  State  Convention  cooperation 
was  necessary.  The  first  man  I  sought  was  Mr.  Francis  Kernan. 
His  freedom  from  all  entanglements— whether  personal  or  political— 


118  THE   LIFE   OF   SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

with  corrupt  interests  or  corrupt  men ;  his  high  standard  of  public 
duty ;  his  disinterestedness  and  independence  ;  his  tact  and  eloquence 
in  debate  ;  his  general  popularity  and  the  readiness  of  his  district  to 
send  him  as  a  delegate — made  him  my  necessary  ally  in  the  State 
Convention.  After  much  telegraphing  I  found  he  was  in  Albany  on 
professional  business.  I  went  there,  and  passed  a  day  with  him. 

It  was,  I  believe,  the  4th  of  August,  1871.  That  was  within  six 
days  of  the  time  when  the  publication  of  the  "  Secret  Accounts  " 
was  completed.  It  was  a  month  before  the  4th  of  September  when 
the  meeting  was  held,  at  which  the  Committee  of  Seventy  was  cre 
ated.  It  was  three  weeks  earlier  than  I  had  moved,  in  1869,  when 
my  own  fortunes  were  involved  in  a  contest  with  the  "  King."  It 
was  earlier  than  a  political  campaign  in  reference  to  the  November 
election  usually  opens.  It  was  more  than  three  months  before  the 
election.  So  far  from  the  "  battle  "  being  over,  it  was  scarcely  be 
gun.  So  far  from  the  "  Ring  "  being  "  down  "  as  the  Times  alleges, 
it  was  confident  of  holding  its  own  for  months  afterward. 

The  programme  then  submitted  to  Mr.  Kernan  embraced  every 
thing  which  has  been  done  since,  except  the  impeachment  of  the 
judges.  He  was  about  to  go  to  the  sea-shore  with  a  sick  relative, 
and,  while  his  concurrence  was  given,  particular  measures  were  left 
for  his  consideration  until  his  return.  Ten  days  afterward  I  joined 
him  at  Albany — went  with  him  to  Utica — and  received  the  assurance 
of  his  cooperation ;  and  had  consultations  with  Governor  Seymour, 
who  was  also  in  full  ^ympathy  with  us.  Mr.  Kernan  will  recall  the 
fact  that  at  that  first  interview — contemplating  the  difficulty  of  the 
conflict — I  said  and  he  agreed  that  we  ought  to  make  the  contest, 
even  if  we  should  fall  in  it. 

On  my  way  home,  I  stopped  a  few  days  at  Saratoga.  There  I 
met  Mr.  George  Jones,  of  the  Times.  I  had  known  him  twenty 
years.  He  spoke  freely  to  me.  I  saw  no  indication  that  he  thought 
the  battle  was  over.  He  seemed  rather  to  feel  its  stress.  I  told 
him  I  should  appear  in  the  field  at  the  proper  time.  Often  after 
ward,  when  I  met  him,  he  referred  to  that  casual  interview  with  ap 
parent  satisfaction. 

Some  five  or  six  weeks  later — after  Mr.  Green  was  in  as  sub 
stitute  for  Mr.  Connolly — I  went  into  the  Comptroller's  office. 
There  sat  Mr.  Jennings  and  Mr.  Jones.  The  former  said,  "  We  want 
an  interview  with  you."  Mr.  Green  kindly  gave  us  a  room  in  the 
basement.  When  we  had  arrived  there,  and  were  seated,  Mr.  Jen- 


OVERTHROW   OF   THE   TAMMANY   "RING."  H9 

nings  said,  "Do  you  see  any  daylight?"  and  went  on  to  say,  in 
words  which  I  may  not  be  able  literally  to  repeat,  that  the  contest 
was  too  exhausting  to  be  continued  very  long.  I  stretched  out  my 
hand  to  him  and  said :  "  Be  of  good  cheer  !  We  shall  win  this  fight." 

ME.  OSWALD    OTTENDOEFEE. 

At  Utica  I  had  seen  some  gentlemen  who  professed  to  represent 
Mr.  Ottendorfer's  views.  I  hastened  to  see  him  as  soon  as  I  arrived 
at  New  York.  He  had  accompanied  me  to  Albany  the  year  before, 
when  I  made  the  speech  against  the  Tweed  charter.  He  was  a  very 
important  element  in  the  contemplated  movement.  His  purity  and 
elevation  of  purpose  made  me  think  he  would  join  us,  notwithstand 
ing  the  great  efforts  which  were  made  to  prevent  it.  He  did  so. 

ME.  O'CONOE. 

Averse  to  engaging  personally  in  politics ;  at  an  eminence  in  pro 
fessional  renown,  in  social  consideration,  and  in  personal  character, 
which  lifted  him  above  rivalries,  and  disposed  everybody  to  defer  to 
him,  so  long  as  he  abstained  from  fresh  collision ;  entitled  to  consult 
his  ease  and  the  comfort  of  tranquillity,  Mr.  O'Oonor  was,  neverthe 
less,  in  complete  sympathy  with  the  right.  I  had  often  communed 
with  him  over  evils  which  there  seemed  to  be  at  the  time  no  means 
of  redress.  I  went  out  to  Washington  Heights  to  see  him.  I  told 
him  the  hour  had  come.  He  said  he  would  help  according  to  his 
view  of  what  he  was  best  adapted  to,  and  of  what  was  most  fit  for 
him  to  undertake. 

There  were  great  legal  difficulties  in  the  way  of  getting  investiga 
tion  or  redress. 

The  aldermen,  who  were  vested  with  a  statutory  power  of  com 
pelling  disclosure,  were  allies  of  the  "King."  The  Legislature  was 
not  in  session.  For  a  long  time  there  was  no  grand-jury  capable  of 
making  the  traditionary  inquest,  which  had  not  been  packed. 

The  local  authorities  which  had  power  to  order  civil  actions,  if 
such  would  lie  in  their  behalf,  were  in  complicity  with  the  wrong 
doers.  The  officials  who  would  conduct  such  actions  were  their  ap 
pointees  ;  the  juries  would  be  selected  in  their  interest,  and  the  judges 
who  dominated  in  the  courts  were  their  instruments. 

Criminal  proceedings  were  equally  hampered. 

Well  might  the  mayor  say  to  Garvey — as  the  latter  has  recently 
testified—"  Who  is  to  sue  ? " 


120  THE   LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

As  early  as  August  I  had  discussed  with  Mr.  O'Conor  the  right  of 
the  State  by  the  Attorney-General  to  sue ;  but  even  that  resource  was 
unavailable,  because  we  could  not  then  count  on  the  cooperation  of 
that  officer. 

When  I  suggested  a  new  law  appointing  one  or  three  commis 
sioners  ;  conferring  on  them  full  powers  of  compelling  disclosure ; 
vesting  them  with  the  right  to  sue ;  enabling  them  to  lay  the  venue 
outside  of  this  county ;  giving  preference  to  their  actions ;  with 
other  provisions  to  render  the  remedy  speedy  and  efficacious,  Mr. 
O'Conor  said  he  would  take  the  head  of  such  a  commission. 

It  was  these  conferences  which  led  Mr.  Kernan  and  myself  to  vote 
for  Mr.  O'Oonor,  without  his  knowledge,  as  Attorney-General.  To 
the  gentleman  who  was  nominated  I  sent  a  message  advising  him  .of 
the  necessity  that  he  should  satisfy  the  people  of  New  York  that  he 
would  exert  the  powers  of  his  office  in  their  behalf.  He  came  to  my 
house  on  the  Sunday  morning  of  October  15th,  with  a  letter  dated 
the  14th,  which  was  published  on  the  16th,  containing  such  an  as 
surance;  and  said  he  would  authorize  any  suit  Mr.  O'Conor  or  I 
should  advise.  He  had  returned  to  Albany  and  communicated  this 
agreement  to  Governor  Hoffman,  before  the  delegates  of  the  Commit 
tee  of  Seventy  had  their  interview  on  the  afternoon  of  the  17th,  at 
which  Mr.  Champlain  announced  his  purpose  to  depute  Mr.  O'Conor. 

With  characteristic  disinterestedness  and  public  spirit,  that  trust 
was  undertaken  by  Mr.  O'Conor,  with  the  declaration  that  he  would 
accept  no  compensation  for  his  professional  work;  and  ever  since 
he  has  given  his  time  and  his  great  abilities  and  acquirements  to  the 
service  of  the  people. 

OTHER    PREPARATIONS. 

These  conferences  were  in  August,  and  before  the  Committee  of 
Seventy  was  appointed.  They  did  not  wait  for  or  depend  upon  any 
cooperation.  They  contemplated  independent  action.  Other  prep 
arations  for  the  State  Convention  were  made.  I  accepted  an  ar 
rangement  to  be  upon  the  floor  as  the  representative  of  my  native 
district,  which  had  always  during  the  Ring  ascendency  provided 
me  that  opportunity.  I  asked  a  few  other  gentlemen  to  come,  but 
had  not  time  to  look  after  delegates  in  detail.(  I  did,  however,  early 
in  September,  issue  a  letter  to  twenty-six  thousand  Democrats,  re 
viewing  the  situation,  and  calling  upon  them  to  "  take  a  knife  and  cut 
the  cancer  out  by  the  roots."  j 


OVERTHROW   OF  THE   TAMMANY   "RING."  121 


SUBSTITUTION     OF     ME.    GREEN     FOR     MR.    CONNOLLY     IN     THE     COMP- 
TEOLLERSHIP. 

Meantime  an  important  event  happened  which  could  not  have 
been  foreseen. 

On  the  14th  of  September  Mr.  Connolly  applied  to  me  through  a 
friend  for  an  interview.  Without  knowing  its  object,  I  gave  it  on  the 
morning  on  the  15th.  The  most  artful  members  of  the  "Ring" 
plotted  to  save  themselves,  to  come  in  as  parts  of  a  new  system,  even 
as  reformers,  with  added  power  upon  Connolly's  ruin.  In  his  dis 
trust  of  them,  and  fears  for  himself,  he  sought  advice. 

I  began  by  telling  him  that  I  could  not  be  his  counsel  or  assume 
any  fiduciary  relations  toward  him  ;  that  he  and  all  the  others  must 
surrender  all  office  and  all  local  party  leadership,  and  recognize  the 
fact  that  their  careers  were  ended. 

To  this  he  assented,  but  still  wanted  my  advice.  I  counseled  him 
that  he  had  no  right  to  resign  his  office  into  the  hands  of  his  confed 
erates  ;  that  such  an  act  would  be  a  new  wrong  against  the  public. 

To  his  inquiry  whether  if  he  remained  he  could  get  money  to 
carry  on  the  government,  I  told  him  I  would  consult  Mr.  Havemeyer, 
and  we  would  meet  him  again  that  evening. 

Mr.  Havemeyer  came,  but  Connolly  did  not.  After  consultation, 
Mr.  Havemeyer  went  to  Connolly's  house,  found  him  in  bed,  sick, 
encouraged  him,  appointed  a  meeting  at  my  house  for  the  next  morn 
ing  at  ten,  and  requested,  as  I  had  desired,  that  Connolly's  counsel 
should  come  with  him. 

Meantime  I  had  examined  the  law,  and  found  a  singular  enactment 
by  which  the  Comptroller  was  authorized  to  appoint  a  deputy,  and 
confer  upon  him,  for  a  definite  period,  all  his  own  official  powers. 
Mr.  Havemeyer  must  have  been  informed  of  this,  and  consulted  about 
the  proposed  action  under  it  before  he  went  to  Connolly's,  for  he  had 
agreed  to  assume  the  responsibility  of  public  advice  to  Connolly  to 
stay  in,  as  Mr.  Green  could  only  hold  as  his  deputy.  Besides  Mr. 
Havemeyer  and  Mr.  Green,  the  only  human  being  who  had  any  inti 
mation  of  the  purpose  was  Judge  Swayne,  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  United  States,  who  passed  the  evening  with  me,  to  whom  I  con 
fided  the  matter,  with  whom  I  discussed  the  question  of  the  right  of 
the  State  to  sue  in  such  cases  under  the  general  rules  of  jurisprudence, 
and,  in  the  intervals  of  conversation,  with  whom  I  prepared  some  of 
the  papers. 

6 


122  THE   LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

In  the  morning,  Mr.  Havemeyer  an,d  Mr.  Connolly  and  his  counsel 
came.  I  pressed  Mr.  Connolly  to  surrender  the  office  into  the  hands 
of  the  Eeformers  by  deputing  Mr.  Green  to  exercise  all  its  powers ; 
that  he  had  less  to  fear  from  the  public  than  from  his  confederates  ; 
that  if  he  threw  himself  upon  the  mercy  of  the  public,  and  evinced  a 
disposition  to  aid  the  right,  the  storm  would  pass  him  and  beat  upon 
the  others.  His  counsel  said  it  was  a  personal  question.  One  of 
them  stated  the  opposite  view  taken  by  some  of  Mr.  Connolly's 
friends.  It  was  that,  if  he  would  resign,  a  man  should  be  put  in  his 
place  who  would  have  character  enough  to  assume  the  whole  duty  of 
investigation,  and  would  exclude  the  committee  of  which  Mr.  Booth 
was  chairman,  and  that  Mr.  Connolly  should  be  protected.  It  was 
disclosed  that  the  counsel  who  presented  this  view  had  come  fresh 
from  an  interview  with  Mr.  Sweeney. 

At  length  Mr.  Connolly  consented,  the  papers  were  executed,  Mr. 
Green  sworn  in,  and  they  left  my  house  only  to  go  to  the  office  of  the 
Comptroller  and  put  Mr.  Green  in  possession. 

The  Times  seems  to  consider  the  acquisition  of  this  office  by  the 
Eeformers  at  that  stage  of  the  contest  as  of  little  value.  That  was  not 
its  opinion  at  the  time.  It  is  not  my  opinion. 

The  possession  of  the  comptrollership  by  the  Reformers  was  a  fatal 
embarrassment  to  the  "  Ring."  It  involved  a  publicity  of  all  the  ex 
penditures  of  the  departments,  and  was  a  restraint  on  those  expendi 
tures.  It  created  doubt  and  dismay  in  all  their  actions.  It  was  an 
obstacle  to  such  modes  of  raising  money  as  had  brought  the  charter 
through  in  1870,  and  to  the  hope  of  reimbursing  advances  for  such 
purposes.  It  protected  the  records  on  which  all  civil  and  criminal 
actions  must  be  founded,  from  such  destruction  as  was  attempted  in 
the  burning  of  the  vouchers.  Every  investigation,  including  that  of 
Mr.  Booth's  committee,  was  a  fruit  of  that  possession.  So  also  was 
the  discovery  of  judicial  proofs,  in  the  Broadway  Bank;  and  the  col 
lection  of  such  proofs  which  continued  for  eight  months  afterward, 
with  important  results  which  have  not  even  yet  become  public.  It 
divided  the  influence  of  the  city  government  in  the  elections,  and 
broke  the  prestige  of  the  "  Ring." 

EFFOETS    OF    THE    "  KING "    TO   EEOOVEE  POSSESSION. 

Then  began  a  struggle  on  the  part  of  the  "Ring"  to  force  Mr. 
Connolly  to  resign,  in  order  that  Mr.  Green's  powers  might  cease. 
On  the  18th  the  mayor  treated  Mr.  Connolly's  deputation  of  Mr. 


OVERTHROW  OF  THE   TAMMANY 


Green  as  a  resignation ;  and  then,  with  singular  inconsistency,  as 
sumed  to  remove  Mr.  Connolly,  though  he  had  lately  declared  he  had 
no  power  of  removal.  The  vacancy  thus  alleged  to  exist,  he,  on  two 
incompatible  theories,  each  totally  unfounded,  proceeded  to  fill. 

Early  that  morning  I  sought  Mr.  O'Conor.  The  freedom  from 
doubt  of  the  law  was  no  security.  The  moral  support  of  his  great 
legal  name,  affirming  the  validity  of  Mr.  Green's  possession,  was  neces 
sary.  He  examined  the  statutes,  and  had  no  doubt.  He  consented  to 
reduce  his  opinion  to  writing,  saying  that  he  would  not  take  a  fee, 
and  inserting  the  explanation  that  the  opinion  was  given  at  my  re 
quest.  It  appeared  in  the  Evening  Post  of  that  afternoon. 

An  attempt,  under  color  of  judicial  process,  to  forcibly  eject  Mr. 
Green,  was  anticipated.  A  carriage  was  waiting  to  take  me  to  Judge 
Brady.  If  a  judge  could  be  found  to  vacate  fraudulent  orders,  as  fast 
as  they  could  be  granted,  it  was  well.  If  not,  I  had  resolved. the  next 
day  to  open  an  issue,  in  advance  of  the  election  of  the  new  Legislature 
— a  convention  to  revise  the  judiciary. 

Mr.  O'Gonor's  opinion  saved  that  day.  Mr.  O'Gorman,  evading 
the  legal  question,  advised  the  mayor,  as  a  matter  of  expediency,  to 
acquiesce  in  Mr.  O'Conor' s  opinion.  The  plot  fell  to  pieces. 

But  there  were  men  behind  the  mayor  who  would  not  yet  give  up 
the  struggle.  When  Keyser  alleged  that  his  name  on  the  warrants 
was  forged,  the  effort  was  renewed.  It  was  in  resisting  it  that  I 
struck  on  the  clew  which  led  to  the  revelations  of  the  Broadway 
Bank. 

STATE    CONVENTION. 

The  contest  in  the  State  Convention  quickly  followed.  It  is  but 
fair  to  admit  that  what  I  asked  the  convention  to  do  was  more  than 
any  party  was  ever  found  able  to  venture  upon.  It  was  to  totally 
cut  off  and  cast  out  from  party  association  a  local  organization  which 
held  the  influence  growing  out  of  the  employment  of  twelve  thousand 
persons,  and  the  disbursement  of  thirty  millions  a  year,  which  had 
possession  of  all  the  machinery  of  local  government,  dominated  the 
judiciary  and  police,  and  swayed  the  officers  of  the  election.  I  still 
think  that,  on  such  an  occasion,  the  greatest  audacity  in  the  right 
would  have  been  the  highest  wisdom,  and,  in  the  long-run,  the  most 
consummate  prudence.  If  the  convention  could  not  reach  that 
breadth  and  elevation  of  action,  it  nevertheless  did  help  to  break  the 
prestige  by  which  the  organization  expected  to  enthrall  the  local 
masses.  For  myself,  I  at  no  time  hesitated  to  avow,  as  my  conviction 


124  THE   LIFE   OF   SAMUEL   J.  TILDEN. 

of  duty  and  my  rule  of  action,  that  a  million  of  people  were  not  to  be 
given  over  to  pillage  to  serve  any  party  expediency,  or  to  advance 
any  views  of  State  or  national  politics. 

OTHEE   ACTION. 

For  more  than  three  months  I  devoted  myself  to  this  contest. 
Whatever  seemed,  on  a  general  survey  of  the  whole  field,  necessary 
to  be  done,  I  endeavored  to  find  the  best  men  and  best  methods  to 
do,  and  at  all  events  to  have  that  thing  accomplished.  I  addressed 
the  Democratic  masses.  I  constantly  pointed  out  to  the  public  the 
legislative  bodies  as  the  turning-point  of  the  controversy.  I  entered 
into  an  arrangement  with  Mr.  O'Conor  and  Mr.  Evarts  to  go  to  the 
Legislature ;  and,  when  events  afterward  induced  them  to  abandon 
the  intention,  I  went  alone.  I  invited  the  meeting  at  which  the  re 
form  delegation  to  the  State  Convention  was  originated,  and  helped 
to  form  that  delegation. 

On  the  eve  of  the  election,  when  Mr.  Wickham,  who  was 
chairman  of  the  newly-extemporized  Democratic  Reform  organiza 
tion,  came  to  me  to  say  that  they  could  not  supply  booths  or  ballots 
without  $10,000  beyond  what  they  were  able  to  raise,  I  agreed  to 
provide  it,  and  did  so.  With  the  aid  of  Mr.  Edward  Cooper,  I  raised 
from  personal  friends,  including  my  own  contributions,  for  the  legiti 
mate  purposes  of  the  contest,  about  the  same  sum  which  I  understand 
the  Committee  of  Seventy  collected  from  the  whole  community  for 
similar  purposes. 

BEOADWAY    BANK    INVESTIGATIONS. 

These  investigations  furnished  the  first,  and,  for  a  long  time,  the 
only  judicial  proof  of  the  frauds.  They  occupied  me  and  some  four 
or  five  clerks  and  assistants,  about  ten  days.  The  analysis  of  the  re 
sults,  and  their  application  as  proof,  were  made  by  myself,  as  well 
as  the  original  discovery  of  the  relation  of  the  numbers  which  was 
the  clew  to  all  the  revelations. 

The  Times  seems  to  ascribe  the  collection  of  judicial  proof  to  Mr. 
Booth's  commi'ttee.  This  is  an  entire  error.  Nothing  of  the  kind 
was  attempted  by  that  committee.  The  value  of  their  report  was  in 
its  exhibition  of  the  accounts  of  payments  from  the  Comptroller's 
office.  It  did  not  trace  any  share  of  the  money  to  any  public  officer. 
That  Mr.  Booth  was  allowed  to  inspect  the  accounts  was  due  to  the 
possession  of  the  Comptroller's  office  by  Mr.  Green. 


OVERTHROW  OF  TEE   TAMMANY   "RING."  125 

This  information  obtained  from  the  Broadway  Bank  established 
the  fact  that  but  one-third  of  the  nominal  amount  of  the  bills  had 
ever  reached  the  persons  who  pretended  to  be  entitled  to  the  pay 
ments,  and  that  two-thirds  had  been  divided  among  public  officers 
and  their  accomplices ;  and  it  traced  the  dividends  into  the  actual 
possession  of  some  of  the  accused  parties.  It  converted  a  strong  sus 
picion  into  mathematical  certainty,  and  it  furnishes  judicial  proof 
against  the  guilty  parties.  On  this  evidence,  and  on  my  affidavits 
verifying  it,  the  action  by  the  Attorney-General  was  founded. 

SPEECH  AT  COOPEE  INSTITUTE. 

At  the  great  "  Reform  "  meeting  at  the  Cooper  Institute,  I  made  a 
speech  advocating  a  union  of  all  the  elements  opposed  to  the  "Ring," 
without  reference  to  State  or  national  politics.  This  was  done  while 
I  was  the  official  head  of  the  State  organization  of  the  Democratic 
party.  My  action  was  regarded  as  questionable  by  some  good  men 
who  judged  it  by  the  ordinary  standard  of  political  parties.  All  the 
secret  allies  of  the  "  Ring  "  throughout  the  State  were  employed,  aided 
by  most  of  the  Executive  patronage,  in  accusing  me  of  sacrificing  the 
success  of  the  State  ticket  and  the  supremacy  of  the  Democratic  party 
in  the  State  to  .my  effort  to  overthrow  the  "  Ring."  Complaints 
were  inspired  from  high  quarters  that  I  had  not  kept  back  the  Broad 
way  Bank  disclosures  and  deferred  the  action  by  the  Attorney-General 
until  after  the  election.  This  was  the  basis  of  an  organized  move 
ment  against  me  in  the  Assembly,  continued  and  renewed  for  a  whole 
year  throughout  the  State.  My  own  opinion  was,  and  is,  that  the 
most  vigorous  and  effective  measures  were  necessary  to  overthrow 
the  corrupt  dominion  over  this  city ;  that  if  they  had  not  been  taken 
with  boldness,  the  immense  power  which  has  been  created  by  the 
legislation  of  1870 — the  whole  local  government  machinery — with  its 
expenditure  and  patronage,  and  its  employment  of  at  least  twelve 
thousand  persons,  and  its  possession  of  the  police,  its  influence  on 
the  judiciary,  its  control  of  the  inspectors  and  canvassers  of  the  elec 
tions,  would  have  enabled  the  "Ring  "  to  hold  a  majority  in  the  city, 
and  would  have  defeated  all  adverse  legislation  at  Albany. 

And  while  I  never  hesitated  to  avow  that  the  emancipation  of  our 
million  of  people  was  not  to  be  made  secondary  to  any  other  object 
by  a  citizen  and  elector  of  this  city,  I  thought  and  still  think  the 
timid  and  false  policy  I  was  assailed  for  not  adopting — if  I  know 
aright  the  many  high-minded  and  independent  gentlemen  of  the  in- 


126  THE  LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN.  • 

terior  who  would  not  have  brooked  any  compromise  with  wrong — 
would  have  been  far  more  disastrous  to  the  State  ticket  in  that  elec 
tion,  a,nd  would  have  permanently  compromised  the  Democratic 
party.  It  is  to  the  eternal  honor  of  the  Democratic  masses  of  this 
State  that,  on  the  issues  thus  made  with  me  successively  for  a  whole 
year,  they  gave  me  an  overwhelming  support.  \ 

DEMOCRATIC   KEFOKM   VOTE    IN   THE    CITY. 

\f'    How  largely  the  redemption  of  the  city  was  due  to  the  Democratic 
I  masses  is  easily  shown.    The  vote  for  "Willers,  the  Democratic  can 
didate  for  Secretary  of  State,  was  83,326.     His  majority  was  29,189. 
The  vote  for  Sigel,  the  Union  Reform  candidate  for  Register,  was 
\  82,565.     His  majority  was  28,117.     Willers's  vote  was  nearly  1,000, 
and  his  majority  more  than  1,000  the  larger. 

It  follows  that  28,653  Democrats  who  voted  for  "Willers,  also  voted 
for  Sigel.  Even  that  does  not  show  the  whole  Democratic  contribu- 
fl  tion  to  the  Reform  victory.  For  at  least  10,000  or  12,000  Democrats 
u  — dissatisfied  that  the  State  Convention  had  not  gone  further  than  it 
I  did — voted  the  Republican  State  ticket.  The  whole  Democratic  vote 
j:Castfor  Sigel  was  little  short  of  40,000,  against  the  42,500  he  received 
I  from  all  other  sources.  The  result— so  much  more  overwhelming 
,'  than  was  expected  by  the  public — not  only  changed  the  city  represen- 
1  fcation  in  the  legislative  bodies  of  the  State,  but,  in  its  moral  effect, 
Crashed  the  "Ring." 

So  far  from  true  is  it  that  the  "battle "  was  " over,"  as  the  Times 
alleges  when  I  entered  it,  the  battle  was  not  over  till  the  polls  closed. 
Even  to  the  night  before  the  election,  general  despondency  prevailed. 
All  through  the  contest,  it  was  difficult  to  inspire  the  local  politicians 
with  confidence  in  our  chances  of  success.  Many,  whose  sympathies, 
interests,  and  resentments,  were  with  us,  held  back,  and  some  aban 
doned  us  at  a  late  period.  The  Republicans  in  the  city  had  little 
hope. 

The  belief  was  general  in  the  city  and  State,  and  among  all  parties, 
even  to  the  election,  that  we  should  fail,  and  that  the  "Ring"  would 
hold  a  majority. 

FUETHEB    COLLECTION    OF    PEOOFS. 

After  the  election,  it  was  urged  by  Mr.  O' Conor,  Mr.  Havemeyer, 
and  Mr.  Green,  that  I  ought  to  continue  the  investigations  by  which 
the  judicial  evidence  of  the  frauds  should  be  collected  and  preserved ; 


OVERTHROW   OF  THE   TAMMANY  "RING."  127 

that  this  work  was  more  important  than  even  the  preparation  of  leg 
islation.  In  deference  to  their  views,  I  gave  my  time  to  the  work, 
during  all  the  six  weeks,  until  the  legislative  session  commenced, 
and  in  every  interval  at  my  command  for  many  months  afterward. 
When  the  investigations  commenced,  there  were  no  means  by  which 
disclosure  could  be  compelled,  that  were  not  in  the  hands  of  the  ac 
cused  parties,  except  a  grand-jury,  whose  sessions  were  prolonged  for 
several  months.  A  vast  mass  of  accurate  information  has  been  col 
lected  and  preserved,  which  is  the  basis  of  nearly  all  judicial  proofs 
that  have  been  obtained. 

JUDICIAL   KEFOEM. 

It  was  the  opinion  of  our  best  men,  as  it  was  my  own,  that  a  re 
form  in  the  administration  of  justice,  as  it  was  carried  on  in  this 
judicial  department  of  the  Supreme  Court,  was  not  only  intrinsically 
the  most  important  to  the  welfare,  safety,  and  honor  of  our  commu 
nity,  but  was  a  measure  without  which  every  other  reform  would 
prove  nugatory;  and  that  the  opportunity  of  effecting  it  at  the  last 
session  could  not  be  allowed  to  pass  unimproyed  without  leaving  us  • 
for  an  indefinite  period  subject  to  the  intolerable  evils  and  scandals 
which  had  recently  grown  up,  and  to  the  world-wide  disrepute  they 
had  occasioned.  As  a  citizen  and  a  lawyer — trained  amid  better 
standards — I  had  seen  the  descent  of  the  bench  and  the  bar  with  in 
expressible  concern.  I  had  often  questioned,  with  Mr.  O' Conor, 
whether  those  of  us  at  the  bar  who  had  ceased  to  be  dependent  for  a 
livelihood  upon  professional  earnings,  ought  not  to  feel  ourselves 
under  a  Providential  call,  on  the  first  opportunity,  to  open  to  the 
younger  members  of  the  profession  a  better  future  than  that  which 
was  closing  in  upon  them — a  future  in  which  personal  and  profes 
sional  honor  would  not  be  incompatible  with  pecuniary  success.  I 
had  advised  a  son  of  Francis  Kernan,  who  came  here  to  begin  a  ca 
reer,  to  return  to  Utica  rather  than  confront  the  degrading  competi 
tion  to  which  a  young  man  would  be  exposed.  In  the  heat  of  an 
extemporaneous  speech,  at  the  Cooper  Institute,  I  had  become  com 
mitted  to  this  cause. 

It  seemed  to  me  a  paramount  duty  to  press  a  movement  for  that 
object  with  all  the  concentration  and  persistence  requisite  to  success ; 
and  there  never  was  a  moment,  by  day  or  night,  during  all  the  ses 
sion,  when  any  thing  which  it  was  possible  to  do  could  be  safely 


128  THE   LIFE   OF   SAMUEL   J.  TILDEN. 

omitted.  There  were  several  periods  of  general  despondency,  and 
frequent  crises  in  which  the  cause  had  to  be  rescued. 

It  early  came  to  the  knowledge  of  Mr.  Peckham,  Mr.  O'Conor, 
and  myself,  that  a  large  fund  was  attempted  to  be  raised  for  the  pur 
pose  of  corrupting  the  committee  and  the  Assembly,  in  the  interest 
of  the  accused  judges.  Even  after  the  impeachment  was  adopted  by 
the  Assembly — when  general  despair  was  felt  at  the  choice  of  man 
agers — the  lost  ground  was  promptly  recovered  by  a  measure  initiated 
by  myself.  It  was  an  arrangement  by  which  the  selection  of  counsel 
was  to  be  satisfactory  to  the  Bar  Association. 

Attention  to  the  completion  of  this  object,  to  the  conduct  of  the 
suits  which  had  been  commenced,  to  the  gathering  in  of  the  fruits 
of  the  investigations,  and  to  other  accessory  work  necessary  to  finish 
the  original  undertakings,  occupied  most  of  the  summer. 

CONCLUSION. 

On  the  whole,  I  have  given  sixteen  months  of  time  to  these  public 
objects,  with  as  incessant  and  earnest  effort  as  I  ever  applied  to  any 
purpose.  The  total  surrender  of  my  professional  business  during 
that  period,  the  nearly  absolute  withdrawal  of  attention  from  my 
private  affairs,  and  from  all  enterprises  in  which  I  am  interested, 
have  cost  me  a  loss  of  actual  income,  which,  with  the  expenditures 
and  contributions  the  contest  has  required,  would  be  a  respectable 
endowment  of  a  public  charity.  The  surrender  of  two  summers, 
after  I  had  shaped  all  my  engagements  to  take  my  fir.st  vacation  in 
many  years,  was  a  serious  sacrifice. 

I  do  not  speak  of  these  things  to  regret  them.  In  my  opinion,  no 
instrumentality  in  human  society  is  so  potential  in  its  influence  on 
the  well-being  of  mankind  as  the  governmental  machinery  which  ad 
ministers  justice  and  makes  and  executes  laws.  No  benefaction  of 
private  benevolence  could  be  so  fruitful  in  benefits  as  the  rescue  of 
this  machinery  from  the  perversion  which  had  made  it  a  means  of 
conspiracy,  fraud,  and  crime,  against  the  rights  and  the  most  sacred 
interests  of  a  great  community. 

The  cancer  which  reached  a  head  in  the  municipal  government  of 
the  metropolis,  gathered  its  virus  from  the  corrupted  blood  which 
pervades  our  whole  country.  Everywhere  there  are  violated  public 
and  private  trusts.  The  carpet-bagger  governments  are  cancers  on 
the  body  politic,  even  more  virulent  than  the  New  York  "  Ring.") 

I  felt  impelled  to  deal  Avith  the  evil  here,  because  an  offense 


OVERTHROW   OF  THE   TAMMANY   "RING."  129 

which  is  directly  before  one's  eyes  is  doubly  an  offense,  and  be 
cause  it  was  within  our  reach  ;  while  to  renovate  government  through 
out  the  United  States  is  a  work  of  great  difficulty,  taking  time,  large 
hope  of  the  future,  and  long-continued  efforts  toward  reformation. 
If  the  world  cannot  be  changed,  it  is  something  to  make  one's  own 
home  fitter  to  live  in. 

A  reaction  must  begin  somewhere.  I  have  not  lost  hope  that 
free  government  upon  this  continent  may  yet  be  saved.  I  remem 
ber  that  nations  have  experienced  great  changes  for  the  better,  in 
manners  and  in  morals,  after  long  periods  of  decay.  There  are  some 
good  signs  in  our  own  horizon.  Last  month,  when  a  gigantic  con 
troversy  of  the  stock-market  reached  the  courts,  none  of  the  jour 
nals  inquired,  "  Which  side  owns  the  judge  ?  "  At  any  time  within 
the  last  three  years  that  would  have  been  the  only  theme. 

The  money-articles  have  ceased  to  treat  their  readers  to  admiring 
discussions  of  the  relative  dexterity  with  which  men  of  colossal  cap 
itals — first  citizens  of  the  metropolis — representatives  of  its  moneyed 
aristocracy — contend  with  each  other  in  feats  which  have  a  moral 
aspect  about  like  cheating  at  cards.  Since  the  swell  of  the  paper- 
money  afflatus  in  1863,  the  absence  of  such  discussions  is  a  refresh 
ing  novelty  at  our  breakfasts.  Even  on  the  cheek  of  a  member  of 
Congress  begins  to  rise  a  delicate  hue  of  doubt  in  being  discovered 
to  have  had  a  pecuniary  interest  in  a  public  question  on  which  he 
has  voted.  Amid  Hie  blackness  of  successful  wrong  which  over 
spreads  the  whole  heavens,  are  these  little  gleams  of  a  revival  of  the 
public  conscience.  If  its  growth  shall  be  as  steady,  as  rapid,  and  as 
persistent  as  has  been  its  decay  during  the  last  ten  years,  everywhere 
throughout  the  country  will  come  revolutions  of  measures  and  of  men. 

If  the  wrork  to  which  I  have  given  so  freely,  according  to  the 
measure  of  my  abilities,  shall  stand,  I  will  not  compete  for  its  hon 
ors,  nor  care  for  falsehood  or  calumny  concerning  the  part  I  have 
borne  in  it. 

If  it  is  to  fail  once  more — if  the  people  of  this  metropolis — if 
the  Eepublican  citizens  of  culture  and  property,  whose  interests  are 
deeply  involved  in  a  good  municipal  government,  and  who  are  now 
to  show  whether  they  will  stand  against  bad  measures  in  their  own 
party — shall  shamefully  consent  to  a  repetition  of  the  fraudulent  de 
vices  of  the  Tweed  charter  of  1870 — theirs,  not  mine,  will  be  the  re 
sponsibility.  S.  J.  TILDEF. 

NEW  YOKK.  January  27, 1873. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

ELECTED    GOVERNOR    OF    NEW    YORK. — 1874. 

BRIEF  reference  is  made  in  Mr.  Tilden's  account  of  the 
overthrow  of  the  Tammany  "  Ring"  to  his  services  in  the  Legis 
lature  of  New  York  in  1872.  In  a  speech  before  the  Bar 
Association  on  the  28th  of  May  in  that  year  he  alluded  to 
the  subject  as  follows  : 

"While  what  has  been  done  toward  purifying  the  judiciary  is  just 
cause  of  congratulation,  you  will  appreciate  the  difficulties  through 
which  it  has  been  obtained  if  you  reflect  that  everything  else  in  the 
way  of  reform  has  failed.  It  is  known  to  you  that  when  I  consented 
to  go  to  the  Assembly  it  was  with  a  view  to  the  judicial  reform,  and 
to  certain  other  measures  more  particularly  interesting  the  people  of 
this  city ;  and  that,  in  that  work,  I  expected  the  cooperation  in  the 
Legislature  of  Mr.  O'Oonor  and  Mr.  Evarts.  This  arrangement  was 
defeated  by  subsequent  events.  L  believed  that  it  was  necessary  to 
concentrate  myself  upon  a  very  few  measures  in  order  to  accomplish 
anything. 

The  general  demoralization  growing  out  of  the  civil  war  and  paper- 
money  had  produced  wide-spread  effects.  The  corrupt  power  which 
had  just  been  overthrown  in  this  city  had  its  origin  in  a  partnership 
of  plunder  between  men  nominally  of  different  politics,  but,  in  fact, 
of  no  politics  at  all ;  and  had  established  extensive  affiliations  through 
out  the  State  in  both  parties  and  in  both  branches  of  the  dominant 
party,  which  now  possessed  three-quarters  of  the  Legislature.  It 
had  been  necessary  to  the  system  that  the  Capitol  should  be  sur 
rounded  by  an  atmosphere  of  corruption.  The  ambition  of  some 
had  been  tempted;  the  interests  of  more  had  been  addressed  by 
making  legislative  business  profitable,  and  the  golden  showers  had 
sprinkled  benefits  in  every  direction.  Some,  even,  who  would  not 
take  an  actual  part  in  the  saturnalia,  were  content  to  be  silent  spec- 


ELECTED   GOVERNOR  OF  NEW  YORK.  131 

tators  or  consenting  witnesses.  I  never  for  a  moment  supposed  that 
the  knife  and  the  cautery  would  be  agreeable  remedies,  or  that  the 
silent  partners  of  prosperous  criminals  would  fall  in  love  with  those 
whose  duty  it  is  to  detect  and  punish.  I  knew,  therefore,  that  ob 
structions,  under  every  pretext,  were  to  be  met  at  every  step,  and  to 
be  overcome. 

To  this  a  word  may  be  added.  The  Legislature  of  1872 
was  either  a  very  weak  or  a  corrupt  body.  The  notorious 
Thomas  C.  Fields,  now  a  fugitive  from  justice,  was  a  member 
thereof.  He  was  awarded  a  higher  place  in  the  committees, 
and  received  much  more  consideration  at  the  hands  of  the 
Republican  majority,  than  Mr.  Tilden.  In  the  Senate  sat  five 
of  those  six  men  who,  according  to  Judge  Noah  Davis  (who 
sentenced  Tweed),  had  received  ten  thousand  dollars  apiece 
from  Tweed  himself.  A  lobbyist  who  ought,  to  know  says 
that  votes  were  never  before  so  cheap  nor  members  so  greedy 
as  they  were  that  year.  Several  legislative  scandals  were  un 
earthed  by  the  newspapers,  but  none  by  either  House  of  its 
own  free-will.  Tweed  was  a  member  of  the  Senate  that  year, 
but  did  not  take  his  seat.  Months  elapsed  before  any  ear 
nest  effort  was  made  to  expunge  his  name  from  the  roll,  and 
then  he  resigned.  The  busybodies  have  discovered  that, 
during  the  session,  Mr.  Tilden  missed  more  roll-calls  than  he 
attended.  But  they  neglect  to  add  that  he  was  engaged  in 
his  work — the  purification  of  the  judiciary — against  tremen 
dous  odds.  If  those  who  attended  the  roll-calls  had  been 
equally  faithful  to  their  duties,  it  would  have  been  well. 

During  the  summer  of  1873,  Mr.  Tilden  made  a  trip  to  Eu 
rope.  It  was  the  first  rest  that  he  had  enjoyed  for  twenty  years. 
During  his  absence,  the  Democratic  Convention  assembled, 
and  again  made  him  chairman  of  the  State  Committee,  an 
unexpected  arid  unsought  compliment  to  one  who  had  an 
nounced  that  he  should  be  away  from  the  country  during  the 
canvass. 

In  1874,  when  the  Democrats  were  casting  about  for  a 
candidate  for  Governor,  some  zealous  friends  of  administrative 


132  THE   LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.    TILDEN. 

reform  suggested  the  name  of  Mr.  Tilden.  He  was  so  entirely 
out  of  the  line  of  office-holders  that,  though  he  was  not  a 
young  man,  he  was  a  new  man.  Two  questions  arose :  The 
timid  asked,  "  Can  he  carry  the  State  with  his  record  of  ugly, 
aggressive  honesty  ?  Will  not  the  remnants  of  the  old  Tam 
many  '  Ring '  prove  strong  enough  to  defeat  him  ?  "  Braver 
souls  simply  inquired,  "  Will  he  accept  a  nomination  ?  "  This 
was  really  the  matter  of  doubt.  He  had  been  working  with 
unflagging  industry  for  thirty  years,  and  had  acquired  fortune 
and  fame,  and  a  high  and  honorable  name.  He  was  the  trusted 
counselor  of  many  men  who  were  themselves  the  favorites 
of  the  people.  In  his  comparative  retiracy  he  could  enjoy 
such  comfort  and  peace  as  never  fall  to  the  share  of  a  public 
official,  and,  at  the  same  time,  he  could  exercise  a  strong  and 
potent  influence  on  affairs.  It  was  the  beguilement  of  per 
sonal  comfort  which  held  him  back,  and  the  whip  of  duty 
which  drove  him  on.  And  he  consented  to  become  the  candi 
date  of  the  party. 

The  professional  politicians  were  a  good  deal  astonished 
as  the  canvass,  preceding  the  convention,  advanced.  Here 
was  a  man  past  middle  age,  who  had  never  sought  an  office 
in  his  life,  who  was  not  supposed  to  have  any  personal  follow 
ing,  who  lacked  the  quality  which  men  call  magnetism,  who 
could  not  or  did  not  stir  the  multitude  by  appeals  to  their  pas 
sions,  and  who  had  made  enemies  in  every  quarter  by  speak 
ing  his  thoughts,  when  silence  seemed  the  discreet  if  not  the 
manly  policy.  As  one  county  after  another  wheeled  into  line 
and  instructed  its  delegates  to  vote  for  Mr.  Tilden,  the  aston 
ishment  of  the  politicians  increased.  They  thought  some  oc 
cult  influence  was  at  work  in  his  favor — that  his  friends  were 
practising  a  sort  of  legerdemain.  They  wanted  him  to  with 
draw,  that  they  might  "  harmonize  "  on  somebody  else.  They 
began  to  get  frightened.  . 

The  convention  assembled  at  Syracuse,  on  the  16th  of  Sep 
tember,  1874.  Under  a  rule  adopted  the  previous  year,  each 
Assembly  district  sent  three  delegates  instead  of  one,  as  had 


ELECTED   GOVERNOR  OF  NEW  YORK.  133 

been  the  custom.  The  convention  was,  therefore,  the  largest 
ever  held  by  the  Democrats  in  the  State  of  New  York.  When 
the  time  came  for  the  presentation  of  candidates,  Horatio  Sey 
mour  rose  on  the  floor  of  the  convention,  and,  in  a  brief  but 
very  forcible  and  eloquent  speech,  named  Samuel  J.  Til  den 
for  Governor  of  New  York.  Loud  cheers  followed  the  an 
nouncement  of  the  name,  and,  in  continued  applause,  the  dele 
gates  and  audience  sought  to  express  their  appreciation  of  the 
coming  candidate,  and  of  the  distinguished  statesman  who  had 
nominated  him.  Judge  Amasa  J.  Parker,  of  Albany,  was  also 
named  for  Governor.  He  had  been  the  candidate  of  the  party 
in  1856,  and  again  in  1858.  He  enjoyed  the  personal  respect 
of  all  the  delegates,  but  he  seemed  to  stand  as  the  representa 
tive  of  the  more  timid  section  of  the  party,  and  courage  was 
the  duty  of  the  hour.  Mr.  Tilden  swept  the  convention  by  a 
vote  of  more  than  two  to  one. 

On  the  evening  of  his  nomination  he  was  tendered  a  sere 
nade,  and  in  response  he  made  the  following  speech  : 

FELLOW-CITIZENS  :  I  thank  yon  for  the  honor  you  do  me  in  the 
midst  of  this  storm.  .  I  know  it  is  the  cause,  more  than  its  repre 
sentative,  that  calls  out  this  manifestation  of  interest  and  enthusiasm. 
"Well  may  it. 

A  peaceful  revolution  in  all  government  within  the  United  States 
is  going  on  to  a  sure  consummation.  Ideas  of  change  pervade  the 
political  atmosphere.  They  spring  up  from  the  convictions  of  the 
people.  The  supporters  of  the  Administration  have  lost  confidence 
in  it  and  in  themselves.  The  opposition  become  more  intense  in 
their  convictions  and  in  their  action.  Multitudes  pass  over  from  sup 
port  to  opposition,  or  sink  into  silent  discontent. 

Are  we  asked  the  causes?  The  answer  is  found  in  the  condition 
of  our  country.  The  fruits  of  a  false  and  delusive  system  of  govern 
ment  finances  are  everywhere  around  us.  All  business  is  in  a  dry 
rot.  In  every  industry,  it  is  hard  to  make  the  two  ends  meet.  In 
comes  are  shrinking  away ;  and  many  hitherto  affluent  are  becoming 
anxious  about  their  means  of  livelihood.  Working-men  are  out  of 
employment.  The  poor  cannot  look  out  upon  the  light  or  air  of 
heaven  but  they  see  the  wolf  at  the  door. 


134  THE  LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.   TILDEN. 

Inflation  no  longer  inflates.  Even  while  paper-money  is  swelling 
out  a  new  emission,  values  sink.  Bankers'  balances  in  the  monetary 
centres  are  increased,  and  call  loans  are  cheaper ;  but  those  who  need 
more  capital  can  neither  buy  nor  borrow  any  of  the  forty-four  millions 
of  new  greenbacks.  The  truth  is,  that  our  body  politic  has  been  over- 
drugged  with  stimulants.  New  stimulants  no  longer  lift  up  the  lan 
guid  parts  to  a  healthy  activity.  They  merely  carry  more  blood  to 
the  congested  centres. 

One  thing  only  remains  in  its  integrity ;  that  is  our  taxes.  Amid 
general  decay,  TAXATION  puts  out  new  sprouts  and  grows  luxuriantly. 

"It  seats  itself  " — if  I  may  borrow  a  figure  from  the  greatest  of 
our  American  poets — 

"...  upon  the  sepulchre — 
And  of  the  triumphs  of  its  ghastly  foe, 
Makes  its  own  nourishment." 

National  taxes — State  taxes — county  taxes — town  taxes — muni 
cipal  taxes.  The  collector  is  as  inevitable  as  the  grim  messenger  of 
death.  Incomes,  profits,  wages  ;  all  these  fall,  but  taxes  rise. 

Six  years  ago,  I  had  occasion  to  say  that  while  values  were  ascend 
ing,  and  for  some  time  after,  it  might  be  easy  to  pay  these  taxes  out 
of  the  froth  of  our  apparent  wealth ;  but  that,  when  the  reaction  of 
an  unsound  system  of  government  finance  should  set  in,  the  enor 
mous  taxation  which  that  system  had  created  would  consume  not 
only  our  incomes  and  profits,  but  trench  upon  our  capital.  What 
was  then  prediction  is  now  experience. 

KETKENCHMENT  in  public  expenditure ;  reform  in  public  admin 
istration  ;  simplification  and  reduction  of  tariffs  and  taxes  ;  ACCOUNT 
ABILITY  of  public  officers,  enforced  by  better  civil  and  criminal  rem 
edies.  The  people  must  have  these  measures  of  present  relief — meas 
ures  of  security  for  the  future. 

The  Federal  Government  is  drifting  into  greater  DANGEKS  and 
greater  EVILS.  It  is  rushing  onward  in  a  career  of  centralism,  ab 
sorbing  all  governmental  powers,  and  assuming  to  manage  all  the 
affairs  of  human  society.  It  undertakes  to  direct  the  business  of  indi 
viduals  by  tariffs  not  intended  for  legitimate  taxation,  granting  special 
privileges  and  fostering  monopolies  at  the  expense  of  the  people.  It 
has  acquired  control  of  all  banks  ;  it  has  threatened  to  seize  on  all  the 
telegraphs;  it  is  claiming  jurisdiction  of  all  the  railroad  corporations 
chartered  by  the  States,  and  amenable  to  the  just  authority  of  the 
States.  It  is  going  on  to  usurp  control  of  all  our  schools  and  col- 


ELECTED   GOVERNOR  OF  NEW  YORK.  135 

leges,  stretching  its  drag-net  over  the  whole  country,  and  forcing  edi 
tors  and  publishers  away  from  their  distant  homes  into  the  courts  of 
the  District  of  Columbia.  It  is  subjecting  the  free  press  of  the  whole 
United  States,  for  the  criticism  of  the  Administration,  to  trial  by  the 
creatures  of  the  Administration,  acting  under  the  eye  of  the  Admin 
istration.  It  dared  to  enforce  this  tyranny  against  a  free  man  of  the 
metropolis  of  our  State. 

These  tendencies  must  be  stopped,  or,  before  we  know  it,  the 
whole  character  of  our  Government  will  be  changed.  The  simple 
and  free  institutions  of  our  fathers  will  have  become  the  worst  Gov 
ernment  that  has  ever  ruled  over  a  civilized  people. 

It  will  be  the  most  ignorant.  A  distinguished  Eepublican  states 
man  (I  mean  Senator  Oonkling)  lately  told  me  that  more  than  5,000 
bills  were  before  Congress  at  its  last  session.  In  a  little  time,  as  we 
are  now  going  on,  there  will  be  20,000.  Nobody  can  know  what  is 
in  them. 

We  have  a  country  eighteen  times  as  large  as  France,  with  a  pop 
ulation  of  43,000,000,  doubling  every  thirty  years,  and  full  of  activi 
ties  and  interests.  A  centralized  Government,  meddling  with  every 
thing  and  attempting  to  manage  every  thing,  could  not  know  the 
wants  or  wishes  of  the  people  of  the  different  localities,  and  would 
be  felt  only  in  its  blunders  and  its  wrongs. 

It  would  be  the  most  irresponsible,  and  therefore  not  only  the 
most  oppressive,  but  the  most  corrupt  with  which  any  people  have 
been  cursed. 

To-day  the  advances  which  we  have  made  toward  this  system  are 
maturing  their  fatal  fruits.  The  Federal  Administration  is  tainted 
with  abuses,  with  jobbery,  and  with  corruption.  In  the  dominion 
which  it  maintains  over  the  reconstructed  Southern  States,  organized 
pillage  on  a  scale  tenfold  larger  than  that  of  the  Tweed  "  Ring  "  is 
the  scandal  and  shame  of  the  country. 

Civil  liberty  is  endangered.  It  is  now  certain  that  President 
Grant  nourishes  the  bad  ambition  of  a  third  term. 

If  the  sacred  tradition  established  by  Washington,  Jefferson,  Mad 
ison,  and  Jackson  can  be  broken,  the  President  may  be  reflected  in 
definitely,  and,  wielding  from  the  centre  the  immense  patronage  which 
will  grow  out  of  such  vast  usurpation  of  authorities  by  the  Federal 
Government,  he  would  grasp  the  means  of  corrupt  influence  by  which 
to  carry  the  elections.  There  will  be  no  organized  thing  in  the 
country  of  sufficient  power  to  compete  with  him  or  to  resist  him. 


136  THE   LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.   TILDEN. 

The  forms  of  free  government  may  remain,  but  the  spirit  and  sub 
stance  will  be  changed.  An  elective  personal  despotism  will  have 
been  established.  Roman  history  in  the  person  of  Augustus  Caesar 
will  be  repeated. 

Thoughtful  men  are  turning  their  minds  to  the  means  of  escape 
from  the  overshadowing  evils.  The  Republican  party  cannot  save 
the  country.  Ideas  of  governmental  meddling  and  centralism  domi 
nate  over  it.  Class  interests  hold  it  firmly  to  evil  courses.  Throngs 
of  office-holders,  contractors,  and  jobbers,  who  have  grown  up  in 
fourteen  years  of  its  administration — in  four  years  of  war  and  during 
an  era  of  paper-money — are  too  strong  in  the  machinery  of  the  party 
for  the  honest  and  well-intending  masses  of  the  Republicans.  The 
Republican  party  could  contribute  largely  to  maintain  the  Union  dur 
ing  the  civil  war.  It  cannot  reconstruct  civil  liberty  and  free  institu 
tions  after  the  peace. 

A  change  of  men  is  necessary  to  secure  a  change  of  measures.  The 
opposition  is  being  matured  and  educated  to  take  the  Administration. 
The  Democracy,  with  the  traditions  of  its  best  days,  will  form  the 
nucleus  of  the  opposition.  It  embraces  vastly  the  larger  body  of  men 
of  sound  ideas  and  sound  practices  in  political  life.  It  must  remove 
every  taint  which  has  touched  it  in  evil  times.  It  must  become  a  com 
pact  and  homogeneous  mass.  It  must  gather  to  its  alliance  all  who 
think  the  same  things  concerning  the  interests  of  our  republic.  It  is 
becoming  an  adequate  and  effective  instrument  to  reform  the  Admin 
istration  and  to  save  the  country. 

It  reformed  itself  in  order  that  it  might  reform  the  country,  and 
now,  in  your  name  and  in  the  name  of  the  five  hundred  thousand 
voters  whom  you  represent,  we  declare  that  in  this  great  work  we 
will  tread  no  step  backward.  Come  weal  or  come  woe,  we  will  not 
lower  our  flag.  "We  will  go  forward  until  a  political  revolution  will 
be  worked  out  and  the  principles  of  Jefferson  and  Jackson  shall  rule 
in  the  Administration  of  the  Federal  Government. 

Let  us  obey  the  patriotic  maxim  of  old  Rome,  "  Never  to  despair 
of  our  country."  Actual  evils  can  be  mitigated.  Bad  tendencies  can 
be  turned  aside.  The  burdens  of  government  can  be  diminished. 
Productive  industry  will  be  renewed,  and  frugality  will  repair  the 
waste  of  our  resources.  Then  shall  the  golden  days  of  the  republic 
once  more  return,  and  the  people  become  prosperous  and  happy. 

A-  week  later,  on  the  23d  of  September,  the  Republican 


ELECTED   GOVERNOR   OF  NEW  YORK.  137 

Convention  assembled  at  Utica,  and  with  perfect  unanimity 
renorainated  General  Dix  for  Governor.  He  had  been  elected 
in  1872  by  a  majority  of  55,451.  He  had  seemed  to  gain 
rather  than  to  lose  in  popularity  during  his  term.  He  had  ad 
ministered  his  office  well,  so  far  as  its  ordinary  or  routine 
duties  were  concerned.  He  was  a  man  of  venerable  age  and 
extended  experience.  As  early  as  1830  Mr.  Hammond,  in 
his  "  Political  History  of  New  York,"  wrote  of  him  as  fol 
lows  :  "  When  the  office  of  Adjutant-General  became  vacant 
by  the  death  of  General  Beck,  Governor  Throop  appointed 
Major  John  A.  Dix,  of  Cooperstown,  who  had  been  one  of 
the  aides  of  General  Jacob  Brown.  Mr.  Dix  was,  I  believe,  a 
native  of  New  Hampshire.  He  had  been  regularly  educated 
at  one  of  the  Eastern  colleges,  and  is  justly  distinguished  for 
his  classical  knowledge  and  literary  attainments.  He  is  an 
accomplished  and  able  writer.  He  was  at  Washington,  in 
the  family  of  General  Brown,  in  1824-'25,  and,  so  long  as 
Mr.  Calhoun  was  a  candidate  for  the  presidency,  Mr.  Dix,  in 
common  with  most  of  the  gentlemen  of  the  Army,  was  his 
zealous  friend  and  supporter.  Not  long  after  the  election  of 
Mr.  Adams  he  married  the  daughter  of  a  wealthy  and  re 
spectable  citizen  of  New  York,  and  came  to  reside  in  this 
State.  Soon  after  he  came  here  he  manifested  a  determina 
tion  to  support  the  party  then  in  the  majority  in  the  State, 
and  has  ever  since  acted  zealously  with  that  party."  During 
his  long  subsequent  career  General  Dix  had  done  nothing  to 
forfeit  this  high  opinion  of  a  distinguished  writer,  and  he 
was  justly  held  in  esteem  by  those  with  whom  he  had  acted 
politically. 

Most  of  the  Republicans,  and  some  Democrats,  affected 
to  believe,  or  did  believe,  that  the  Democratic  party  had 
made  a  mistake  in  placing  Mr.  Tilden  in  nomination.  No 
body  questioned  either  his  honesty  or  his  talents.  The  dis 
cussion  turned,  as  it  had  turned  before  the  convention,  on 
the  question  of  his  availability.  The  general  excellence  of 
Governor  Dix's  administration  was  enlarged  upon  by  the  Re- 


138  THE   LIFE   OF   SAMUEL  J.   TILDEN. 

publican  press,  and  apparently  with  effect.  But  weeks  be 
fore  the  election  came,  early  in  the  month  of  October,  the 
Democrats  began  to  gather  hope,  they  hardly  knew  why  nor 
from -where.  The  feeling  grew  through  the  State,  reaching 
out  beyond  the  limits  of  the  party  to  which  he  belonged, 
that  Mr.  Tilden  was  a  safe  leader — that  he  could  effect  cer 
tain  reforms  in  administration  which  had  been  too  long  neg 
lected.  Moreover,  the  Democrats  showed  signs  of  strength 
elsewhere.  Their  victory  in  Ohio,  in  October,  was  particu 
larly  cheering  to  their  brethren  in  New  York.  It  was  not, 
therefore,  a  surprise  to  the  people  when  it  was  announced  on 
the  morning  after  the  election  that  Mr.  Tilden  had  been 
chosen  Governor  of  the  State  of  New  York.  But  the  mag 
nitude  of  his  majority  astonished  everybody.  He  received 
416,391  votes,  while  Dix  received  366,074,  showing  a  plural 
ity  for  Tilden  of  50,317. 

Governor  Tilden  was  inaugurated  on  the  first  day  of  Janu 
ary,  1875.  Before  taking  the  oath  of  office  Governor  Dix 
made  a  short  address,  to  which  Mr.  Tilden  briefly  responded. 
In  the  course  of  his  remarks  he  alluded  in  a  feeling  manner 
to  the  friendship  which  had  existed  between  him  and  Silas 
Wright.  He  might  have  added  that,  up  to  the  time  of  Gov 
ernor  Wright's  death,  General  Dix  was  also  among  his  most 
active  supporters.  It  was  Dix  who  read,  at  Saratoga  Springs, 
the  agricultural  address  on  which  Silas  Wright  was  engaged 
the  night  before  he  died. 


CHAPTER  XVT. 

FIRST   ANNUAL   MESSAGE. 

THE  Legislature  of  New  York  in  1875  was  divided  politi 
cally  between  the  two  parties.  The  Republicans  had  a  ma 
jority  in  the  Senate  and  the  Democrats  a  majority  in  the 
Assembly.  It  was  certain,  therefore,  from  the  first  that  no 
strictly  party  measure  could  pass.  Either  House  could  act  as 
a  check  upon  the  other,  so  far  as  politics  went.  Over  the 
action  of  both,  the  Governor  would  exercise  considerable  in 
fluence  by  reason  of  the  enlarged  powers  conferred  upon  him 
under  the  amended  constitution  in  respect  to  the  vetoing  of 
items  in  appropriation  bills.  This  power  brought  with  it  a 
heavy  responsibility,  for  it  made  him  ultimately  responsible 
for  any  extravagance  into  which  the  State  might  fall. 

Mr.  Tilden's  first  annual  message  was  eagerly  looked  for. 
He  had  been  elected  on  the  issue  of  reform.  What  recom 
mendations  would  he  make  ?  Would  he  justify  the  high 
faith  of  his  friends,  or  lay  himself  open  to  the  criticism  of  his 
enemies  ?  He  was  to  meet  a  hostile  Senate.  Would  he 
prove  himself  a  partisan  or  a  statesman  ?  He  was  supposed 
to  entertain  extreme  views  on  the  question  of  municipal  gov 
ernment.  Would  he  incorporate  those  views  into  his  message, 
and,  if  he  did,  how  would  they  be  received  by  the  Legisla 
ture  ?  These  and  many  similar  questions  engrossed  the  pub 
lic  mind  for  several  days  before  the  message  was  communi 
cated  to  the  Legislature.  It  is  appended  in  full  because  it  is 
one  of  the  state  papers  on  which  Mr.  Tilden's  reputation  must 
hereafter  rest. 


140  THE  LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.   TILDEN. 

EXECUTIVE  CHAMBER,       ) 
ALBANY,  January  5,  1875.  ) 

To  the  Legislature : 

At  the  advent  of  a  new  year,  when  the  public  bodies  assemble,  to 
consult  in  respect  to  the  affairs,  and  to  transact  the  business  of  the 
State,  our  first  thought  should  be,  to  offer  up  devout  thanksgiving  to 
the  Supreme  Disposer  of  events,  for  the  blessings  which  we  have 
enjoyed  during  the  year  now  closed.  Our  great  Commonwealth 
comprises  a  population  of  more  than  four  and  a  half  millions — large 
ly  exceeding  that  of  the  whole  United  States  at  the  formation  of  the 
Federal  Government — and  embracing  vastly  more  extensive  and  diver 
sified  interests  and  activities.  Our  sense  of  duty  ought  to  be  com 
mensurate  with  the  magnitude  of  the  trust  conferred  upon  us  by  the 
people.  Forming,  as  our  State  does,  so  important  a  part  of  the 
American  Union,  the  benefits  of  an  improved  polity,  of  wise  legisla 
tion,  and  of  good  administration,  are  not  confined  to  our  own  citi 
zens,  but  are  felt  directly,  and  by  their  example,  in  our  sister  States, 
and  in  our  national  reputation  throughout  the  world.  Mindful,  with 
you,  of  these  considerations,  I  proceed  to  perform  the  duty  enjoined 
by  the  constitution  upon  the  Governor,  to  "  communicate,  by  mes 
sage  to  the  Legislature,"  "  the  condition  of  the  State,"  and  to  "  rec 
ommend  such  matters  to  them  as  he  shall  deem  expedient." 

EKCEIPTS    AND    EXPENDITURES. 

The  receipts  into  and  payments  from  the  Treasury,  on  account  of 
all  the  funds,  except  the  Canal  and  Common-School  Funds,  for  the 
fiscal  year  ending  September  30,  1874,  were  as  follows  : 

Keceipts $26,465,370  43 

Payments 19,636,308  36 


Balance  in  the  Treasury  September  30,  1874..     $6,829,062  07 
The  available  balance  amounted  to $6,494,881  44 

the  difference  being  made  up  by  the  defalcation  in  the  State  Treas 
ury  in  1873,  of  $304,957.91,  and  the  sum  of  $29,222.72,  being  an  old 
balance  due  from  the  Bank  of  Sing  Sing. 

STATE   DEBT. 

On  the  30th  September,  1873,  the  total  funded  debt  was  $36,530,- 
406.40,  classified  as  follows : 


FIRST  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  141 

General  Fund $3,988,526  40 

Contingent  (stock  issued  to  the  Long  Island  Rail 
road  Company) 68,000  00 

Canal 11,352,880  00 

Bounty 21,121,000  00 

$36,530,406  40 

During  the  months  of  August  and  September,  1873,  stocks  of  the 
Bounty  Loan  were  purchased  to  the  amount  of  $306,000,  but  not 
canceled  until  after  September  30,  1873.  Deducting  this  sum,  the 
bounty  debt  amounted  to  $20,815,100,  and  the  total  debt  to  $36,224,- 
406.40. 

On  the  30th  September,  1874,  the  total  funded  debt  was  $30,199,- 
456.40,  classified  as  follows  : 

General  Fund $3,988,526  40 

Contingent 68,000  00 

Canal 10,230,430  00 

Bounty 15,912,500  00 

$30,199,456  40 

The  actual  reduction  of  the  State  debt  during  the  fiscal  year  end 
ing  September  30,  1874,  by  cancellation  of  matured  stocks,  and  by 
the  purchase  of  $4,902,500  of  Bounty  Loan  7's  of  1877,  for  the 
Bounty  Debt  Sinking-Fund,  is  $6,024,950. 

In  addition  to  the  $4,902,500  of  Bounty  Stock,  purchased  for  the 
Bounty  Debt  Sinking-Fund  during  the  last  fiscal  year,  and  canceled, 
there  have  been  investments  for  that  sinking-fund,  since  the  date  of 
the  last  report  to  the  present  time,  in  State  securities  and  Govern 
ment  registered  bonds,  to  the  amount  of  $4,381,500,  at  a  cost  of 
$4,972,091.35  ;  add  $327,283.88  premium  and  $3,210  commissions  on 
Bounty  Loan  Stock  purchased  and  canceled,  and  $1,421,584,  interest 
on  Bounty  Debt,  makes  a  total  of  $11,626,667.23  paid  on  account  of 
this  sinking-fund  since  the  date  of  last  report  to  the  present  time. 
The  securities,  now  held  in  trust  for  this  sinking-fund,  amount,  at 
their  par  value,  to  $6,802,944.09,  which  could  be  disposed  of,  at  the 
present  market  rates,  at  an  average  premium  of  over  twelve  per  cent. 

The  following  statement  shows  the  amount  of  the  State  debt  on 
the  30th  September,  1874,  after  deducting  the  unapplied  balances  of 
the  sinking-funds  at  that  date : 


142 


THE   LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.   TILDEN. 


DEBT. 

Debt  on  September 

30,  1874. 

Balance  of  Sinking- 
Funds  on  September 
30,  18T4. 

Balance  of  Debt 
after  applying 
Sinking-funds. 

General  Fund 

$3  988  526  40 

$4  142  693  84 

Contingent  

68  000  00 

32  823  49 

$35,176   51 

Canal       . 

10  230  430  00 

1  561  018  99 

8  669411  01 

Bounty  

15,912,500  00 

1  7  125  278  20 

8,787,221  80 

Total 

$30  199  456  40 

$12  861  814  52 

$17  491  809  32 

The  State  debt  on  the  30th  September,  1873,  after 
deducting  the  unapplied  balances  of  the  sinking- 
funds,  amounted  to $21,191,379  34 

On  the  30th  September,  1874,  to.'. 17,491 ,809  32 

Showing  a  reduction  of $3,699,570  02 

TAXES. 

The  State  tax  levy  for  the  current  year  amounted  to  seven  and 
one-fourth  mills. 

The  total  amount  of  the  tax  will  be  $15,727,482.08,  about  $900,000 
in  excess  of  the  amount  levied  during  the  preceding  fiscal  year. 

OTHEE   DEPARTMENTS    OF    THE    STATE. 

Summary  statements  in  respect  to  the  banks,  savings-banks,  trust, 
loan  and  indemnity  companies,  insurance  companies,  quarantine,  the 
emigration  commission,  common  schools,  colleges  and  academies,  the 
State  Library  and  Museum,  the  National  Guard,  the  soldiers  of  the 
War  of  1812,  the  war  claims  against  the  United  States,  the  salt- 
springs,  and  the  State-prisons,  are  appended.  The  full  reports  of  the 
public  officers  and  boards,  charged  with  the  special  care  of  these  sub 
jects,  will  be  transmitted  as  soon  as  their  preparation  is  completed. 
Your  attention  is  invited  to  them,  and  especially  to  the  report  of  the 
Comptroller,  which  will  be  submitted  at  the  opening  of  the  session. 

STATE    CENSUS. 

The  constitution  provides  that  an  enumeration  of  the  inhabitants 
of  the  State  shall  be  taken,  under  the  direction  of  the  Legislature,  in 
the  year  1855,  and  at  the  end  of  every  ten  years  thereafter. 

Chapters  64  and  181  of  the  laws  of  1855,  and  Chapter  34  of  the 


Deducting  interest  accrued  to  October  1,  1874,  payable  January  1,  1875. 


FIRST  ANNUAL   MESSAGE.  143 

laws  of  1865,  which  remain  in  full  force,  prescribe  the  manner  of 
taking  the  enumeration. 

These  acts  require  the  Secretary  of  State  to  prepare  uniform  blank 
returns  and  abstracts,  for  the  purpose  of  taking  the  enumeration  and 
obtaining  statistical  information  as  to  population  and  social  statistics, 
the  resources  and  interests  of  the  State,  individual  and  associated  in 
dustry,  agriculture,  the  mechanic  arts,  commerce  and  manufactures, 
.education,  and  other  information  of  great  value  to  the  statistician  and 
all  classes  of  citizens,  and  will  probably  require  little  or  no  modifica 
tion. 

It  will  be  necessary  for  the  Legislature  to  make  an  appropriation 
to  enable  the  Secretary  of  State  to  carry  into  effect  the  provisions  of 
the  constitution  and  statutes  above  referred  to.  A  sum  equal  to  the 
amount  appropriated  in  1865  for  that  purpose,  by  Chapter  598  of  the 
laws  of  that  year,  will  probably  be  sufficient. 

The  Secretary  of  State  has  taken  preliminary  steps  toward  taking 
the  enumeration,  and  looks  to  the  Legislature  for  an  early  appropri 
ation,  to  enable  him  to  go  forward  with  the  work. 

PATJPEEISM. 

The  annual  report  of  the  State  Board  of  Charities  will  be  laid 
before  the  Legislature,  and  I  commend  it  to  your  attention.  It  will 
contain  the  results  of  a  special  examination  in  respect  to  the  condi 
tion  of  children  in  the  poor-houses,  and  the  subjects  of  out-door  relief 
and  alien  paupers.  The  laws  relating  to  pauperism  need  revision  and 
amendment.  The  growth  of  the  State  in  wealth  and  population  has 
brought  with  it  more  complex  relations  between  capital  and  labor, 
which  should  be  carefully  studied,  in  order  that  legislation  may  be 
adapted  to  their  requirements.  I  suggest  whether  it  is  not  advisable 
that  a  commission  be  appointed  to  investigate  and  report  upon  the 
management  and  relief  of  the  poor,  and  to  propose  such  legislation  as 
will  tend  to  relieve  the  industry  of  the  State  from  the  evils  which 
result  from  poor-laws,  vicious  or  inadequate  in  conception,  or  defec 
tive  in  execution. 

CENTENNIAL    EXHIBITION. 

The  celebration  of  the  centennial  anniversary  of  American  Inde 
pendence  will  occur  in  the  year  1876.  Under  the  auspices  of  the 
General  Government  an  international  exhibition  of  arts,  manufactures, 
and  natural  products,  will  be  held  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia.  Pro- 


144  THE   LIFE   OF  SAMUEL   J.   TILDEN. 

vision  has  already  been  made  for  the  appointment  of  a  board  of  five 
commissioners  to  represent  this  State,  who  are  to  serve  without  com 
pensation.  I  recommend  a  moderate  appropriation  of  money,  which 
will  be  required  to  defray  the  necessary  expenses  of  the  commission, 
and  enable  this  State  to  take  such  part  in  the  exhibition  as  will  testify 
our  sense  of  the  greatness  of  the  event  commemorated,  and  is  suit 
able  to  the  dignity  of  our  commonwealth. 

CONSTITUTIONAL   AMENDMENTS. 

The  adoption  of  the  recent  amendments  to  the  constitution  ren 
ders  necessary  some  important  legislation  in  order  to  carry  them  into 
full  effect.  The  changes  made  in  Article  II.  require  corresponding 
changes  in  the  election  laws,  with  respect  to  challenges  and  the  oaths 
thereupon,  and  the  enactment  at  the  present  session  of  a  law  "  ex 
cluding  from  the  right  of  suffrage  all  persons  convicted  of  bribery  or 
of  any  infamous  crime." 

The  amendment  of  section  4  of  Article  VIII.  of  the  constitution 
requires  the  enactment  of  a  "  general  law  conforming  all  charters  of 
savings-banks,  or  institutions  for  savings,  to  a  uniformity  of  powers, 
rights,  and  liabilities." 

The  addition  of  Article  XV.  necessitates  the  passage  of  an  act  pre 
scribing  the  punishment  for  the  offense  of  bribery  created  in  sections 
1  and  2.  Some  legislation  may  be  necessary  in  consequence  of  the 
change  in  the  mode  of  compensating  members  of  the  Legislature,  and 
in  some  other  matters  which  will  readily  occur  to  you. 

The  section  added  to  Article  III.  as  section  18  requires  the  pas 
sage  of  general  laws,  providing  for  the  cases  in  which  special  legisla 
tion  is  prohibited  by  that  section.  Many  of  these  cases  are  within 
existing  general  laws,  and,  with  respect  to  several  others,  no  imme 
diate  legislation  seems  to  be  required.  Doubtless,  however,  some 
legislation  is  expedient,  either  in  the  way  of  enacting  statutes  provid 
ing  for  the  cases  to  which  the  existing  statutes  do  not  apply,  or  in 
the  way  of  amendments  to  existing  statutes. 

The  provision  prohibiting  special  legislation  in  the  cases  specified 
is  the  amendment  from  which  the  largest  benefits  have  been  antici 
pated.  In  framing  the  general  laws  which  are  to  provide  for  these 
cases  great  caution  will  be  necessary.  The  part  I  took  in  the  con 
vention  of  1846,  and  even  before  the  enactment  of  the  general  bank 
ing  law  of  1838,  in  advocating  the  principle  of  general  laws  in  its 
application  to  the  creation  of  corporate  bodies  which  have  been  prac- 


FIRST   ANNUAL   MESSAGE.  145 

tical  monopolies,  and  to  other  cases  where  it  seemed  to  be  safely  ap 
plicable,  may  justify  me  in  suggesting  some  qualification  of  the  ad 
vantages  to  be  derived  from  the  change,  unless  it  be  accompanied  by 
especial  foresight  and  wisdom. 

It  will  doubtless  be  an  unavoidable  necessity  to  modify  existing 
general  laws,  and  to  shape  new  ones  to  be  enacted  with  reference  to 
special  and  peculiar  cases.  It  is  quite  possible  to  give  a  general  form 
to  the  phraseology  of  every  enactment  intended  to  apply  to  a  special 
case,  and  to  operate  as  a  special  grant  of  powers. 

The  benefit  intended  to  be  secured  by  the  prohibition  may  thus 
be  defeated.  Even  greater  mischiefs  than  those  which  existed  under 
the  old  system  may  be  created. 

The  parties  interested  in  promoting  a  law  intended  to  obtain 
special  powers  for  a  particular  case  cannot  be  relied  on  to  guard 
against  the  possible  operation  of  the  general  provision  in  the  other 
cases  to  which  it  may  be  applied.  The  legislators,  who  could  meas 
ure  the  whole  consequences  of  an  act  limited  in  its  terms  to  a  special 
instance,  cannot  foresee  the  possible  cases  to  which  a  general  law 
adapted  to  the  instance  present  to  his  mind  may  be  found  capable 
of  applying,  or  what  operation  it  may  have.  There  will,  therefore, 
be  great  danger  of  vague,  loose,  and  hasty  legislation  in  contemplation 
of  one  object,  but  capable  of  workipg  in  numerous  cases  results  neither 
foreseen  nor  intended. 

The  new  legislation  called  for  by  this  provision  should  be  framed 
with  more  than  ordinary  care. 

FEAUDS   AND   MALVERSATION   BY   PUBLIC    OFFICERS. 

It  will  be  the  first  and  most  imperative  of  our  duties  to  revise  the 
laws  which  are  intended  to  provide  criminal  punishment  and  civil 
remedies  for  frauds  by  public  officers,  and  by  persons  acting  in  com 
plicity  with  them.  The  condition  of-  our  existing  statutes  and  of  our 
unwritten  law,  as  its  provisions  for  such  cases  have  been  construed 
and  declared  by  recent  decisions  of  the  court  of  final  resort,  discloses 
grave  defects.  The  practical  evils  resulting  from  these  defects  are 
greatly  increased  by  the  recent  frequency  and  magnitude  of  violations 
of  official  trust. 

IMPERFECTION   OF   CRIMINAL   LAWS. 

The  statutes  punishing  embezzlement  are  held  not  to  apply  to 
such  offenses  when  committed  by  public  officers.    The  statutes  relat- 
7 


146  THE   LIFE   OF  SAMUEL   J.   TILDEN. 

ing  to  larcenies  are  deemed  to  be  of  questionable  application  to  a 
fraudulent  acquisition  of  public  funds,  existing  in  the  form  of  credits 
inscribed  on  the  books  of  a  bank,  and  known  in  the  language  of  com 
merce  as  deposits.  The  statutes  in  regard  to  obtaining  money  or 
property  by  false  pretenses  are  not  free  from  technical  embarrass 
ments  in  their  application  to  public  frauds.  Without  assenting  to 
the  conclusion  that  these  statutes  are  wholly  unavailable  in  such  cases, 
it  cannot  be  doubted  that  they  are  inadequate,  unfit  for  the  exigencies 
of  the  times,  and  that  they  abound  in  needless  technical  questions 
which  tend  to  the  defeat  of  public  justice. 

No  illustration  of  these  defects  can  be  so  impressive  as  cer 
tain  facts  of  recent  experience.  A  public  officer  designated  by 
statute  of  the  State,  and  authorized,  with  two  others,  to  audit  the 
then  existing  liabilities  against  the  county  of  New  York,  fraudu 
lently  made  an  audit,  or  certified  to  an  audit  not  made,  of  fictitious 
claims  to  the  amount  of  six  millions  of  dollars,  and  instantly  received 
a  million  and  a  half  of  the  money  paid  on  such  audits,  through  a 
common  agent  between  himself  and  the  pretended  owners  of  the 
claims.  For  this  flagrant  crime,  accompanied  by  many  circumstances 
of  aggravation,  the  eminent  counsel  who  represented  the  people 
deemed  it  prudent  to  seek  convictions  only  for  misdemeanors  in  neg 
lect  of  official  duty,  the  punishment  for  each  of  which  is  imprison 
ment  in  the  penitentiary  for  a  term  not  exceeding  one  year,  and  a 
fine  not  exceeding  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars.  "When  we  consider 
that  a  person,  who,  under  the  temptation  of  pressing  want,  steals 
property  of  the  value  of  over  twenty-five  dollars,  is  liable  to  im 
prisonment  in  the  State-prison  for  a  term  of  five  years,  and  that  the 
other  offense^  against  private  property  are  punishable  with  corre 
sponding  severity,  the  inadequacy  of  the  law  applicable  to  great  pub 
lic  delinquents,  betraying  the  highest  trusts,  and  plundering  the  peo 
ple  on  a  grand  scale,  is  revolting  to  all  just  notions  of  morality  and 
justice. 

RECOMMENDATIONS. 

* 

I  recommend  the  enactment  of  a  statute  which  shall  clearly  em 
brace  such  offenses,  and  impose  penalties  upon  them  proportionate 
to  their  moral  turpitude  and  to  the  mischief  which  they  inflict  upon 
society.  It  can  apply  only  to  future  cases ;  but  it  may  be  expected 
to  do  something  toward  preventing  a  recurrence  of  such  evils. 


FIRST  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 


CIVIL   EEMEDIES. 

The  existing  civil  remedies  applicable  to  such  cases  are  no  less 
inadequate.  For  the  last  three  years  the  spectacle  has  been  ex 
hibited,  on  the  conspicuous  theatre  of  our  great  metropolis,  of  fraudu 
lent  officials  remaining  in  quiet  possession  and  making  unobstructed 
dispositions  of  great  wealth,  which  we  are  morally  certain  was  de 
rived  from  their  spoliation  of  public  trusts,  notwithstanding  legal 
proof  of  the  most  conclusive  nature  exists  of  their  guilt.  In  the 
mean  time,  civil  actions  have  been  dragging  their  slow  length  along, 
as  in  ordinary  cases  of  disputed  rights,  while  the  "law's  del-ay"  has 
been  maintained  by  the  use  of  the  vast  fund  abstracted  from  the 
public,  and  no  process  has  been  found  in  our  laws  by  which  it  could 
be  attached  and  preserved  pending  the  litigation,  or  its  disposition 
interfered  with  before  final  judgment. 

RECOMMENDATION. 

A  bill  to  extend  to  such  cases  the  remedy  of  attachment  as  in  case 
of  foreign  corporations,  or  non-resident,  absconding,  or  concealed 
defendants,  has  been  heretofore  submitted  to  the  Legislature.  I 
trust  that  such  a  measure  will  be  speedily  adopted.  I  recommend, 
further,  that  preference  be  given  to  such  cases  in  the  courts,  who 
ever  may  be  the  party  plaintiff. 

A  GEEAT  DEFECT  IN  OUE  JURISPRUDENCE. 

A  still  more  serious  defect  exists  in  our  jurisprudence. 

Where  a  wrong  is  committed,  which  affects  the  treasury  of  a  city, 
county,  town,  or  village,  the  officers  who  would  be  the  proper  plain 
tiffs  in  any  suit  for  redress,  or  who  possess  exclusively  the  power  to 
institute  or  conduct  such  suits,  may  be  themselves  the  wrong-doers, 
or  be  in  complicity  with  the  wrong-doers.  In  every  such  case,  the 
remedy  must,  of  course,  be  very  much  embarrassed,  if  not  wholly 
unavailing.  The  unfaithful  incumbents  may  be  entitled  to  serve  for 
a  long  term,  or  they  may  possess  great  facilities  for  gaining  the  favor 
of  their  successors.  While  the  remedy  is  thus  delayed  —  perhaps  for 
years  —  the  proofs  may  be  lost  ;  or  the  depredators  may  make  away 
with  their  property,  and  withdraw  their  persons  from  the  reach  of 
process  ;  or  they  may,  through  the  lapse  of  time,  become  discharged 
from  liability  by  the  statute  of  limitations.  As  the  offense  becomes 
stale,  the  public  sentiment,  which  inspires  voluntary  efforts  of  patri- 


148  THE  LIFE  OF  SAMUEL  J.   TILDEN. 

otic  citizens  in  behalf  of  the  people  to  seek  redress,  is  wearied  and 
weakened.  On  the  other  hand,  temptations  are  strengthened  and 
developed  into  actual  crimes  by  the  prospect  of  impunity,  which 
grows  out  of  tardiness  and  uncertainty  in  the  remedial  law. 

ATTEMPTS  TO  EEMEDY  THAT  DEFECT.  ' 

The  frequent  occurrence  of  malversation  in  local  governing  offi 
cials  has.  stimulated  ingenuity  to  devise  some  judicial  remedy.  At 
first  it  was  conceived  that  the  injured  tax-payers  or  inhabitants 
might,  in  their  own  names,  invoke  judicial  aid.  An  analogy  was  set 
up  to  the  case  of  a  private  corporation  in  which  a  corporator,  on  the 
omission  of  the  directors  to  sue,  might  bring  an  action,  in  behalf  of 
himself  and  his  associates,  making  the  corporate  body  a  defendant. 
The  idea  received  much  favor  from  the  courts  in  the  judicial  district 
which  comprises  the  city  of  New  York. 

But  the  Court  of  Appeals  in  Roosevelt  vs.  Draper,  and  in  Doolittle 
vs.  Supervisors  of  Broome  County,  decided  that  the  individual  tax 
payer  had  no  special  interest  distinct  from  that  of  the  public,  which 
would  enable  him  to  sustain  an  action,  in  person,  for  the  redress  of  a 
public  wrong  of  the  nature  involved  in  those  cases.  In  the  former 
case,  the  intimation  was  made  that  the  true  "  remedial  process  against 
an  abuse  of  administrative  power  tending  to  taxation  is  furnished 
by  our  elective  system,  or  by  a  proceeding  in  behalf  of  the  State  " 
in  the  latter,  that  "  for  wrongs  against  the  public,  the  remedy^ 
whether  civil  or  criminal,  is  by  a  prosecution  instituted  by  the  State 
in  its  politieal  character,  or  by  some  officer  authorized  by  law  to  act 
in  its  behalf." 

The  whole  reasoning  of  the  court  proceeded  upon  this  ground, 
nor  does  it  seem  to  have  been  questioned  by  the  counsel  on  either 
side.  The  remedy  intimated  in  these  decisions  has  been  recognized 
as  established  law  in  Great  Britain,  from  which  we  inherit  our  equity 
jurisprudence,  by  a  series  of  great  precedents.  It  has  been  applied 
to  populous  municipalities  like  Liverpool,  and  to  corporate  funds 
derived  from  taxation,  and  applicable  to  general  municipal  purposes. 
It  is  a  natural  deduction  from  the  historic  origin  and  the  expansive 
philosophy  of  the  equity  system,  whose  proud  boast  has  ever  been 
that  it  leaves  no  wrong  without  a  remedy. 

On  the  discovery  in  1871  of  the  frauds  committed  by  the  govern 
ing  officials  of  the  municipality  of  New  York,  the  Attorney-General, 
acting  on  these  intimations  of  our  own  courts,  and  on  the  English 


FIRST  ANNUAL   MESSAGE.  149 

precedents,  instituted  actions  against  the  parties  inculpated  by  posi 
tive  proofs.  "Within  the  last  year  the  Court  of  Appeals,  in  the  cases 
of  The  People  vs.  Tweed,  Ingersoll  et  al.,  and  of  The  People  vs.  Fields, 
has  decided  that  the  State  cannot  maintain  those  actions.  The  result 
is  at  last  arrived  at,  that  neither  the  tax-payer,  nor  the  State  in  his 
behalf,  can  seek  redress ;  that,  in  all  the  long  interval,  nobody  has 
been  competent  to  sue  or  conduct  a  suit,  except  some  corporation 
counsel  who  was  an  appointee  of  the  accused  parties.  This  is  a 
state  of  our  jurisprudence  which  calls  for  new  legislation. 

NEW   LEGISLATION. 

In  choosing  between  the  two  expedients  of  vesting  the  right  to 
sue  in  the  individual  tax-payer  or  in  the  State,  it  is  obvious  that  the 
latter  should  bo  preferred.  The  existing  statutes  intended  to  confer 
some  limited  rights  on  the  individual  tax-payer,  are  practically  nuga 
tory.  The  reasoning  of  the  Court  of  Appeals,  in  the  cases  denying 
him  the  right  under  our  customary  jurisprudence  or  the  common 
law,  argues  with  cogency  the  inconveniences  which  might  attend 
the  possession  of  such  a  power  by  every  member  of  so  multitudinous 
a  body.  The  wiser  alternative  is  to  vest  the  power  in  the  people  of 
the  State,  acting  by  their  Attorney-General.  It  will  be  analogous  to 
the  authority  which  exists  in  respect  to  private  corporations  and  in 
cases  of  nuisances,  and  of  quo  warranto,  and  will  be  in  conformity 
to  the  safe  methods  and  traditional  usages  of  equity  jurisprudence. 

LOCAL   6ELF-GOVEENMENT. 

The  establishment  of  such  a  remedy  for  the  injured  tax-payer  or 
citizen  will  not  detract  from,  but  will  make  possible,  and  will  found 
on  a  durable  basis,  local  self-government.  Human  society  will  strug 
gle,  like  everything  that  lives,  to  preserve  its  own  existence.  When 
abuses  become  intolerable,  to  escape  them  it  will  often  surrender  its 
dearest  rights. 

All  the  invasions  of  the  rights  of  the  people  of  the  city  of  New 
York  to  choose  their  own  rulers  and  to  manage  their  own  affairs — 
which  have  been  a  practical  denial  of  self-government  for  the  last 
twenty  years — have  been  ventured  upon  in  the  name  of  reform,  un 
der  a  public  opinion  created  by  abuses  and  wrongs  of  local  adminis 
tration,  that  found  no  redress.  When  the  injured  tax-payer  could 
discover  no  mode  of  removing  a  delinquent  official,  and  no  way  of 
holding  him  to  account  in  the  courts,  he  assented  to  an  appeal  to  the 


150  THE   LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.   TILDEN. 

legislative  power  at  Albany ;  and  an  act  was  passed  whereby  one 
functionary  was  expelled,  and  by  some  device  the  substitute  selected 
was  put  in  office.  Differing  in  politics  as  the  city  and  State  did,  and 
with  all  the  temptations  to  individual  selfishness  and  ambition  to 
grasp  patronage  and  power,  the  great  municipal  trusts  soon  came  to 
be  the  traffic  of  the  lobbies.  It  is  long  since  the  people  of  the  city 
of  New  York  have  elected  any  mayor  who  has  had  the  appointment, 
after  his  election,  of  the  important  municipal  officers.  Under  the 
charter  of  1870,  and  again  under  the  charter  of  1873,  the  power  of 
appointment  was  conferred  on  a  mayor  already  in  office.  There  has 
not  been  an  election  in  many  years  in  which  the  elective  power  of 
the  people  was  effective  to  produce  any  practical  results,  in  respect 
to  the  heads  of  departments  in  which  the  actual  governing  power 
really  resides. 

A  new  disposition  of  the  great  municipal  trusts  has  been  gener 
ally  worked  out  by  new  legislation.  The  arrangements  were  made  in 
secret.  Public  opinion  had  no  opportunity  to  act  in  discussion,  and 
no  power  to  influence  results.  Inferior  offices,  contracts,  and  some 
times  money,  were  means  of  competition,  from  which  those  who  could 
not  use  these  weapons  were  excluded. 

Whatever  defects  may  sometimes  have  been  visible  in  a  system  of 
local  self-government,  under  elections  by  the  people,  they  are  infinite 
ly  loss  than  the  evils  of  such  a  system,  which  insures  bad  government 
of  the  city,  and  tends  to  corrupt  the  legislative  bodies  of  the  State. 

A  popular  election  invokes  publicity — discussion  by  the  contend 
ing  parties — opportunity  for  new  party  combinations,  and  all  the 
methods  in  which  public  opinion  works  out  results. 

OFFICIAL    ACCOUNTABILITY  A    CONDITION  OF    MUNICIPAL   INDEPENDENCE. 

No  part  of  the  civic  history  of  this  State  is  more  instructive  than 
the  recorded  debates  of  the  convention  of  1821,  on  the  question  of 
electing,  by  the  voters  of  the  counties,  the  sheriff,  who  is  the  execu 
tive  arm  of  the  State.  It  was  thoughtfully  considered  by  our  fore 
most  statesmen.  Its  solution  embraced  the  two  ideas — the  selection 
by  the  locality,  and  the  removal  for  cause  by  the  State.  The  conven 
tion  of  1846  carried  its  dispersion  of  the  power  of  choosing  local  offi 
cers  much  further,  on  the  same  system.  That  system  is  to  distin 
guish  between  the  power  of  electing  or  appointing  the  officer  and 
the  power  to  hold  him  to  account.  It  is,  while  dispersing  the  one  to 
the  localities,  to  reserve  the  other  to  the  State,  acting  by  its  general 


FIRST  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  151 

representatives,  and  as  a  unit ;  to  retain  in  the  collective  State  a 
supervisory  power  of  removal,  in  addition  to  whatever  other  account 
ability  may  result  to  the  voters  or  authorities  of  the  locality,  from 
the  power  to  change  the  officer  at  the  expiration  of  his  term,  or  from 
special  provisions  of  law. 

The  two  ideas  are  not  incompatible.  On  the  contrary,  each  is  the 
complement  of  the  other.  Such  dispersion  of  the  appointing  power 
has  become  possible,  only  because  these  devices  have  been  invented 
to  preserve  accountability  to  the  State. 

The  right  of  the  State,  by  its  general  representatives,  to  remove, 
is  capable  of  being  made  to  destroy  the  local  election  or  appointment. 
The  right  of  the  State  to  sue  is  not.  It  is  less  in  conflict  with  the 
local  power  of  election  and  appointment.  Official  accountability  is 
not  complete  if  there  is  no  remedy  for  official  wrongs  but  removal. 
That  remedy  needs  to  be  supplemented  by  accountability  in  the  courts 
on  the  appeal  of  a  tax-payer  or  citizen  of  the  locality.  If  a  right  to 
that  appeal  is  denied,  the  appeal  will  continue  to  be  made,  on  often- 
recurring  occasions,  to  the  legislative  power,  and  the  system  of  the 
last  twenty  years  will  be  perpetuated. 

MUNICIPAL   GOVERNMENT. 

The  problem  of  municipal  government  is  agitating  the  intellect  of 
all  civilized  peoples.  In  our  own  State  it  is  the  more  interesting  and 
important  because  it  involves  the  half  of  all  our  population,  which 
lives  in  cities  or  large  villages. 

The  framework  of  the  system  which  we  should  adopt  must  be 
intrenched  in  the  fundamental  law,  and  protected,  by  constitutional 
restrictions,  from  arbitrary  and  capricious  changes  by  legislation. 
This  problem  failed  of  any  solution  in  the  recent  amendments  to  the 
constitution.  It  is  worthy  of  long-continued  thought  and  debate. 
Time  and  discussion  will  at  last  mature  a  safe  and  wise  result. 

THE    ERIE    CANAL   AND    THE    TRANSPORTATION    PROBLEM. 

The  State  of  NQW  York,  not  denying  the  general  unfitness  of  Gov 
ernment  to  own,  construct,  or  manage  the  works  which  afford  the 
means  of  transportation,  saw  an  exception  in  the  situation,  and  in 
the  nature  of  the  canals,  which  are  trunk  communications  between 
the  Hudson  and  the  great  inland  seas  of  the  North  and  West.  They 
connect  vast  navigable  public  waters,  and  themselves  assume  some 
thing  of  a  public  character. 


152  THE   LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.   TILDEN. 

THE  NATUEAL   PASS    OF   OOMMEECE. 

The  voyage  from  Europe  to  America,  even  if  destined  to  Southern 
ports,  is  deflected  by  the  ocean  currents  so  as  to  pass  closely  by  the 
gates  of  our  commercial  metropolis.  That  capacious  harbor  is  open 
the  whole  year,  accessible  in  all  prevailing  winds,  is  sheltered,  safe, 
and  tranquil.  From  it  the  smooth  waters  of  the  Hudson  give  transit 
to  the  lightest  hull,  carrying  the  largest  cargo,  which  the  skill  of  man 
has  brought  into  use.  The  head  of  navigation  on  the  Hudson  touches 
the  natural  pass  of  commerce,  opened  up  in  the  geographical  config 
uration  of  this  continent,  where  the  Alleghanies  are  cloven  down  to 
their  base,  and  travel  and  traffic  are  allowed  to  flow  across  on  a  level 
and  by  the  narrowest  isthmus,  to  the  lake-ports,  which  connect  with 
all  that  great  system  of  inland  water  communication  and  interior 
commerce,  the  most  remarkable,  in  its  character  and  extent,  and  ac 
cessories,  that  exists  in  any  part  of  the  globe. 

THE   NOETHWEST. 

Tributary  to  the  Yfestern  centres  of  lake  commerce,  such  as  Chi 
cago  and  Milwaukee,  are  vast  areas  of  fertile  soils,  which  stretch  to 
and  partly  include  the  valley  of  the  Upper  Mississippi.  Open  prai 
ries,  easily  brought  into  cultivation,  fitted  for  the  use  of  agricultural 
machinery,  adapted  to  the  cheap  construction  of  railways,  and  pe 
culiarly  dependent  on  their  use  as  a  means  of  intercourse  and  traffic, 
have  been  opened  to  settlers  at  nominal  prices.  They  have  been 
rapidly  filled  by  a  young,  intelligent,  and  energetic  population,  trained 
in  the  arts  and  industries  of  an  older  civilization,  and  applying  them 
to  natural  advantages  which  have  been  found  elsewhere  only  in  con 
junction  with  the  social  barbarism  of  an  uninhabited  wilderness. 
They  are  now  covered  with  a  network  of  railways,  which  connect 
myriads  of  little  centres  with  the  lake-ports  and  with  the  trunk  rail 
ways,  that  bring  them  into  practical  contiguity  to  our  great  Eastern 
centres  of  population,  capital,  commerce,  and  manufactures. 


New  York,  without  arrogating  to  itself  an  undue  share  in  these 
achievements,  may  contemplate  with  proud  satisfaction  its  contribu 
tion  to  results  so  magnificent.  Important  as  are  the  advantages 
which  have  accrued  to  itself,  it  has  not  sought  to  monopolize  the 
benefits  of  its  policy.  The  price  of  such  cereals  and  other  products 
of  agriculture  as  are  exported  in  considerable  quantities  is  mainly 


FIRST  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  153 

fixed  by  the  competitions  of  the  foreign  markets,  even  for  our  own 
consumption.  The  cheapening  of  the  cost  of  transit,  therefore, 
chiefly  profits  the  producer.  This  consideration  illustrates  how  large 
and  liberal,  in  the  main,  is  the  policy  adopted  by  the  State— a  policy 
which  I  had  the  satisfaction  of  advocating  in  1846  and  in  1867 — of 
treating  these  great  works  as  a  trust  for  the  million,  and  not  seeking 
to  make  revenue  or  profit  for  the  sovereign  out  of  the  right  of  way. 
In  consonance  with  the  same  policy  was  the  action  of  the  State  in 
1851,  in  permitting  the  transit  free  of  tolls  upon  a  railway  whioh  it 
allowed  to  be  constructed  between  the  termini  of  the  Erie  Canal  and 
along  its  bank.  It  had  originally  undertaken  the  construction  and 
administration  of  the  canal  in  order  to  create  a  facile  and  cheap  trans 
portation  demanded  by  the  interests  of  the  people,  and  not  otherwise 
possible  to  be  attained.  It  did  not  forget  the  motive  for  which  it  had 
acted,  and  remember  only  its  selfish  interests  as  a  proprietor.  It, 
therefore,  by  an  act  which  anticipated  the  necessity  afterward  to 
arise  by  the  construction  of  rival  routes,  repealed  all  restraints  on  the 
carriage  of  property,  and  opened  to  free  competition  every  mode  of 
transit,  oven  in  rivalry  to  its  own  works,  for  the  products  of  the  West 
and  for  the  manufactures  and  merchandise  of  the  East. 

NOT   TO    BE   ABANDONED. 

The  Erie  Canal  remains  an  important  and  valuable  instrument  of 
transport,  not  only  by  its  direct  services,  but  by  its  regulating  power 
in  competition  with  other  methods  of  transportation.  The  State,  so 
far  as  we  can  now  foresee,  ought  to  preserve  it,  and  not  contemplate 
its  abandonment. 

DUTIES    OF    THE    STATE. 

If  the  State  accepts  the  view  which  commands  it  to  abstain  as  a 
proprietor  from  making  profit  out  of  the  canal,  but  .to  deal  with  it  as 
a  trust,  it  still  has  great  duties  to  perform.  It  is  bound,  as  a  faithful 
trustee,  to  protect  this  great  work,  not  only  from  a  spoliation  of  its 
revenues  and  from  maladministration,  but  from  empirical  changes, 
proposed  in  the  seductive  form  of  specious  improvements  that  would 
destroy  its  usefulness  while  charging  it  with  new  incumbrances,  and 
from  an  improvident  tampering  with  its  incomes  that  would  dissipate 
its  means  of  effecting  real  improvements. 

These  are  its  ever-recurring  and  its  greatest  perils. 


154  THE   LIFE  OF  SAMUEL  J.   TILDEN. 

LAKE   AND    CANAL   NAVIGATION   CANNOT   BE   ASSIMILATED. 

The  nine  hundred  and  twenty-five  miles  of  lake  navigation  from 
Chicago  to  Buffalo,  and  the  four  hundred  and  ninety-five  miles  of 
canal  and  river  navigation  from  Buffalo  to  New  York,  and  the  three 
thousand  miles  of  ocean  navigation  from  New  York  to  the  Old 
World,  cannot  be  made  homogeneous  or  even  assimilated;  each  is 
subject  to  physical  conditions  which  are  unchangeable,  and.to  which 
the  vehicle  of  transportation  must  be  adapted. 

LAKE-BOATS   UNFIT   AS    CANAL-BOATS. 

The  rough  and  stormy  lakes  require  a  strong  vessel,  made  sea 
worthy  by  its  deep  keel,  fully  manned,  and  of  a  form  intended  for 
speed  in  an  unlimited  expanse  of  water.  The  canal  admits  of  a  light 
keel,  and  a  shape  which  will  carry  a  larger  proportional  cargo  ;  for 
the  boat  moves  safely  in  a  tranquil  channel  of  water,  closely  confined 
by  physical  boundaries  on  the  bottom  and  sides,  and  cannot  but  sub 
mit  to  a  slow  movement. 

The  propeller  of  the  lakes  tends  to  grow  in  dimensions.  A  recent 
one  carries  70,000  bushels  of  wheat,  or  2,100  tons.  A  barge,  to  be 
towed  by  each  propeller,  is  a  system  now  being  tried  with  fair  pros 
pects  of  success. 

The  lake-craft  of  the  average  size  carries  less  cargo  in  proportion 
to  the  vessel  than  the  canal-boat,  and  it  costs  twice  and  a  half  or 
three  times  as  much  as  the  canal-boat  per  ton  of  capacity. 

If  the  canal  were  made  large  enough  to  pass  the  lake-craft,  the 
transporter  could  not  afford  to  use  the  lake-craft  on  the  canal.  It 
carries  too  little  cargo — it  is  too  costly — it  would  have  to  reduce  its 
rate  of  motion  from  about  eight  miles  per  hour  on  the  lake  to  less 
than  three  miles  per  hour,  which  is  the  highest  aim  of  the  canal- 
boats  that  now  make  only  1T4^-  miles  per  hour. 

Such  a  vehicle  of  transport  would  not  be  adapted  to  the  water- 
channel  it  must  move  in,  and  would  not  be  economical.  Tranship 
ment  at  Buffalo,  with  modern  machinery,  would  cost  little,  compared 
with  the  loss  incident  to  using  an  unfit  and  illy-adapted  instrument. 

To  enlarge  the  Erie  Canal  to  dimensions  adapted  to  the  move 
ment  of  such  a  vessel,  at  the  rate  of  less  than  three  miles  per  hour, 
would  be  so  inconvenient  to  the  traffic  that  it  would  be  easier  and 
cheaper  to  construct  an  independent  work.  That  would  probably 
cost  a  principal  sum  the  annual  interest  on  which  would  be  greater 
than  the  entire  amount  now  received  by  the  carrier  for  his  services, 


FIRST   ANNUAL   MESSAGE.  155 

and  by  the  State  for  its  tolls  on  all  the  existing  business.  A  shorter 
route  would  be  likely  to  be  preferred.  The  Hudson  Kiver,  from  Troy 
to  deep  water,  would  need  a  similar  reconstruction. 

ENLARGED    LOCKS    AND    UNENLARGED    WATER-WAY. 

A  project  often  urged  within  the  last  ten  years  is  the  enlargement 
of  the  locks  and  other  structures  of  the  Erie  Canal,  without  a  pro 
portionate  enlargement  of  the  water-way.  That  plan  exhibits  a  sin 
gular  union  of  injurious  costliness  and  fatal  parsimony.  It  is  founded* 
on  the  fallacy  that  the  use  of  a  large  boat,  without  reference  to  its 
adaptation  to  the  water-way  in  which  it  is  to  move,  would  be  eco 
nomical.  It  is  supported  by  an  estimate  of  the  State  Engineer  in 
1864,  that  the  cost  of  transportation  would  be  reduced  one-half.  His 
opinion  has  been  repeated  on  all  occasions  until  the  present  time. 

But  that  estimate,  when  analyzed,  is  found  to  omit  all  the  wages 
and  support  of  the  crew  during  the  return-trip,  and  during  the  time 
occupied  in  loading  and  unloading,  and  to  allow  for  the  use  of  the 
boat  about  half  its  real  cost.  In  other  respects,  it  was  utterly  un 
worthy  of  trust. 

ECONOMY   FROM   THE   BEST    GROUP    OF   ADAPTATIONS. 

The  truth  is,  the  boat  is  but  one  part  of  the  whole  machine  of 
transportation  ;  economy  in  the  service  depends  upon  getting  the  best 
adaptation  of  all  the  various  parts — the  boat — the  motive  power — 
the  canal,  with  its  structures  and  its  water-way ;  the  best  group  of 
adaptations  which  adjustments  and  compromises  of  each  can  work 
out  and  combine  ;  and  the  resultant  of  the  greatest  economies  which 
can  be  obtained  in  conjunction. 

A  larger  boat,  in  a  water-way  which  now  needs  to  be  itself  en 
larged  and  improved  to  give  a  good  transit  to  the  present  boat,  would 
be  an  unmixed  damage  to  the  economy  of  the  service,  attained  at 
immense  cost. 

PERFECTING   THE    CANAL   THE    WISE    POLICY. 

The  Erie  Canal  was  planned  in  view  of  the  best  science  and 
experience  then  possessed.  It  has  excellent  adaptations.  It  is  a 
superior  instrument  of  transportation.  It  should  not  be  fundament 
ally  changed  in  its  character  and  conditions  without  great  considera 
tion.  It  should  be  perfected,  and  so  made  available  to  every  practi 
cable  extent,  for  facilitating  and  cheapening  the  exchanges  of  com 
modities  between  the  East  and  the  "West. 


156  THE  LIFE   OF   SAMUEL  J.   TILDEN. 

ITS    CAPACITY — ITS   ECONOMY. 

The  two  questions  concerning  it  are :  first,  its  capacity  to  do  an 
aggregate  business  during  a  given  period ;  secondly,  the  economy  per 
•  ton  per  mile  of  the  transportation  it  affords.  These  questions  are 
generally  confused  in  all  discussions.  They  are  completely  distinct. 
They  depend  upon  wholly  different  conditions. 

ITS    CAPACITY    AMPLE. 

Capacity  to  accommodate  an  aggregate  tonnage  during  a  day,  a 
month,  or  a  season  of  navigation,  depends  on  the  number  of  boats  of 
the  normal  size  which  the  locks  are  able  to  pass  during  the  period. 
Boats  can  be  multiplied  indefinitely.  The  limit  to  their  use  is  in  the 
number  to  which  the  locks  can  give  transit.  The  time  occupied  in  a 
lockage  is  the  test.  But  it  is  unnecessary  to  apply  that,  for  the  actual 
results  of  experience  set  at  rest  every  doubt. 

Of  the  seventy-two  locks  which  intervene  between  the  waters  of 
Lake  Erie  and  the  waters  of  the  Hudson,  all  but  a  few  have  been 
doubled  for  many  years.  In  1867,  when  the  subject  was  discussed  in 
the  Constitutional  Convention,  thirteen  remained  single.  For  the 
first  time,  on  the  opening  of  navigation  next  spring,  double  locks  will 
be  brought  into  use  throughout  the  entire  canal.  That  will  nearly 
double  the  capacity  of  the  canal  to  make  lockages.  The  largest 
delivery  of  the  Erie  Canal  at  tide- water  was  in  1862.  It  amounted 
to  2,917,094  tons,  in  cargoes  averaging  167  tons.  The  lockages  both 
ways,  and"  including  rafts  which  pass  only  one  way,  at  Alexander's, 
which  is  in  the  throat  of  the  canal,  three  miles  west  of  Schenectady, 
was  84,977.  In  1873  the  deliveries  were  2,585,355  tons,  in  cargoes 
averaging  213  tons,  and  the  lockages  were  24,960. 

The  theoretical  capacity  of  the  canal  will  be  three  or  four  times 
the  largest  tonnage  it  has  ever  reached.  There  is  no  doubt  it  can 
conveniently  and  easily  do  double  the  business  which  has  ever  existed, 
even  though  the  locks  bo  not  manned  and  worked  with  the  highest 
efficiency.  The  subject  of  capacity  may,  therefore,  be  dismissed  from 
this  discussion. 

ECONOMY  PER  TON  PEE  MILE. 

The  question  really  worthy  of  our  attention  is  how  we  can  perfect 
the  canal  so  as  to  reduce  the  cost  per  ton  per  mile  of  the  transporta 
tion  it  affords. 

Quickening  the  movement  of  the  boat  increases  the  service  it  ren 
ders  in  a  given  period.  It  lessens  every  element  in  the  cost  of  that 


FIRST  ANNUAL   MESSAGE.  157 

service.  It  enlarges  the  number  of  tons  carried  in  the  given  time, 
and,  by  enlarging  the  divisor  of  the  same  expenses,  it  reduces  the  rate 
of  cost  per  ton  per  mile. 

TO    BE   INCKEASED    BY    PEEFEGTING   WATEK-WAY. 

The  economy  in  the  transit  of  the  boat  must  be  made,  not  in  the 
locks,  but  in  the  water-way.  The  seventy-two  locks  in  the  three 
hundred  and  forty-five  miles  between  Buffalo  and  West  Troy,  if  each 
takes  five  minutes,  would  occupy  exactly  six  hours. 

In  October,  1873,  seventy-six  boats  were  timed,  and  their  average 
passage  down,  with  average  cargoes  of  two  hundred  and  twenty-seven 
tons,  was  ten  days,  two  hours,  and  forty^-six  minutes,  or  nearly  two 
hundred  and  forty-three  hours.  If  we  double  the  time  taken  in  the 
locks,  the  time  occupied  on  the  levels  between  them  would  still  be 
over  ninety-five  per  cent,  of  the  whole  time  of  the  voyage.  It  is 
clear,  therefore,  that  the  saving  of  time  must  be  made  in  the  ninety- 
five  per  cent,  and  not  in  the  five  per  cent.  Economy  per  ton  per  mile 
in  the  transportation,  so  far  as  it  depends  on  the  structure  of  the 
canal,  is  to  be  found  in  the  relation  which  the  water-way  bears  to 
the  boat. 

The  movement  of  the  boat  through  water  confined  in  an  artificial 
channel — narrow  and  shallow — is,  at  best,  very  slow.  The  engineers, 
in  1835,  planned  the  Erie  Canal  and  the  boat  with  such  relations  to 
each  other  as  to  give  the  greatest  economy  of  'power  and  facility  of 
transit.  The  boat  has  inclined  to  grow  rather  large  and  too  square. 
The  water-way  was  practically  never  excavated  in  every  part  to  its 
proper  dimensions.  Time,  the  action  of  the  elements,  and  neglect 
of  administration,  all  tend  to  fill  it  by  deposits.  I  may  be  excused 
for  repeating  here  what  I  said  in,.the  Constitutional  Convention  eight 
years  ago : 

"  "What  the  Erie  Canal  wants  is  more  water  in  the  prism— more 
water  in  the  water-way.  A  great  deal  of  it  is  not  much  more  than 
six  feet,  and  boats  drag  along  over  a  little  skim  of  water ;  whereas  it 
ought  to  have  a  body  of  water  larger  and  deeper  even  than  was  in 
tended  in  the  original  project.  Bring  it  up  to  seven  feet — honest 
seven  feet — and  on  all  the  levels,  wherever  you  can,  bottom  it  out ; 
throw  the  excavation  upon  the  banks  ;  increase  that  seven  feet  tow 
ard  eight  feet,  as  you  can  do  so,  progressively  and  economically- 
You  may  also  take  out  the  bench-walls." 

EECOMMENDATIONS. 

I  recommend  that  such  measures  be  taken  as  your  wisdom,  aided 


158  THE  LIFE  OF  SAMUEL  J.   TILDEN. 

by  such  information  as  can  be  had  from  the  proper  administrative 
officers,  may  devise,  to  put  in  good  condition  and  to  improve  the 
water-way  of  the  Erie  Canal ;  and  that  provision  be  made  by  law  to 
enable  the  State  Engineer,  soon  after  navigation  is  opened,  to  meas 
ure  the  depth  of  water  in  the  canal  by  cross-sections  as  often  as  every 
four  rods  of  its  length,  and  on  the  upper  and  lower  mitre-sill  of  each 
lock. 

FUTTJKE    INVENTIONS    AND    ECONOMIES. 

Such  a  policy,  if  properly  executed,  will  give  a  better  and  more 
economical  transit  to  the  boats  if  they  continue  to  be  towed  by 
horses.  It  will  also  facilitate  the  use  of  steam  canal-boats,  and  the 
full  realization  of  the  advantages  they  may  be  expected  to  give  as  to 
economy  of  transportation.  The  obstacle  to  their  use  in  1867  was 
that  the  machinery,  in  its  then  state,  displaced  too  much  cargo  to  be 
economical,  and  was,  in  other  respects,  imperfect.  The  progress  of 
invention  since  seems  to  promise  more  beneficial  results.  If  the 
movement  of  the  boat  can  be  expedited  from  1-j-^j-  to  3  miles  per 
hour,  including  the  time  consumed  in  the  lockages,  the  improvement 
will  be  of  great  importance  and  value.  The  estimate  of  the  able 
engineer  of  the  Commission  on  Steam  Canal  Navigation  is  that  the 
cost  of  carriage  of  a  bushel  of  wheat  from  Buffalo  to  New  York 
will  be  reduced  from  eight  to  four  cents.  It  is  not  to  be  supposed 
that  the  inventive  genius  applied  to  this  interesting  subject  is  ex 
hausted,  and,  if  these  results  shall  in  any  degree  fail  to  be  realized  by 
the  present  experiments,  we  may,  nevertheless,  anticipate  more  com 
plete  success  in  the  future. 

INCOME   AND    OUTGO. 

It  will  be  seen  that  on  the  Erie  Canal  alone  the  surplus  of  income 
over  expenditures  is  about  37£  per  cent,  of  the  gross  income.  If  the 
three  other  canals,  which  are  to  be  retained  by  the  State  as  a  part  of 
the  system,  be  included,  the  surplus  is  but  llf  per  cent. 

TOLLS. 

The  present  tolls  on  wheat  are  3T^  cents,  and  on  corn  3  cents  per 
bushel,  from  Buffalo  to  Troy — 345  miles.  They  were  reduced  in 
1870 — those  on  wheat  from  6^,  or  one-half;  and  those  on  corn 
from  4yso^-  to  3  cents,  or  about  38  per  cent. 

One  cent  per  bushel  taken  off  the  present  tolls,  and  the  same  pro 
portion  on  other  articles,  would  annihilate  nearly  all  the  net  income 


FIRST  ANNUAL   MESSAGE.  159 

of  the  Erie  Canal,  considered  alone,  and  would  make  a  deficiency,  in 
respect  to  the  four  canals  retained,  of  half  a  million  of  dollars  a 
year,  if  future  expenditure  should  be  the  same  as  in  these  three 
years. 

The  construction  of  the  details  of  the  toll- sheet  belongs  to  the 
Canal  Board,  and  adjustments  from  time  to  time  may  be  necessary. 
Doubtless  suggestions  on  that  subject  will  always  receive  due  consider 
ation.  But  in  the  present  condition  of  things  to  embark  hastily  and 
unadvisedly  upon  a  general  reduction  of  tolls  might  well  be  considered 
as  improvident,  even  in  respect  to  the  canals  themselves.  To  confiscate 
the  surplus  of  one  cent,  or  one-half  a  cent  per  bushel,  which  alone 
gives  the  means  of  making  the  improvements  expected  to  realize  a 
reduction  of  four  cents  in  the  cost  of  transportation,  would  not  seem 
a  wise  execution  of  the  trust,  even  disregarding  other  considerations 
which  cannot  be  wholly  overlooked. 

NO   EASH   INNOVATIONS. 

The  question  of  altering  the  gates  of  the  locks,  or  otherwise 
lengthening  the  chambers,  may  be  safely  deferred  until  we  can  be 
more  sure  of  its  utility.  The  fact  that,  on  the  Delaware  &  Raritan 
Canal,  which  admits  of  long  boats,  the  proportions  which  exist  in 
those  now  used  on  the  Erie  Canal  are  preferred,  is  against  that  alter 
ation,  as  is  also  the  judgment  of  excellent  canal-engineers.  Holding 
ourselves  ready  to  accept  improvements  which  have  been  subjected 
to  trial  and  scrutiny,  until  they  are  practically  assured  of  success,  we 
ought  to  exercise  the  same  caution,  in  respect  to  rash  or  crude  inno 
vations,  which  ordinarily  governs  men  in  private  business. 

FINANCIAL   RESULTS    OF   THE   LAST    THEEE   TEARS. 

The  financial  results  of  the  fiscal  years  ending  September  30, 
1874,  1873,  and  1872,  for  the  Erie  Canal,  and  for  the  Champlain,  the 
Oswego,  and  the  Cayuga  &  Seneca,  are  as  follows : 

ERIE. 


Year  ending               T 
Sept.  30.                   Income- 

1872  $2,760,147  50     \ 
1873  2  710601  49 

Ordinary       Extraordinary              Total 
Repairs.               Repairs.            Expenditure. 
11,025,079  09     $661,942  02     $1,687,021   11 
749  977  03       967  175  39       1  717  152  42 

1874  2,672,787  22 

701,340  81       973,548  96       1,674,889  77 

$8,143,536.  21  $5,079,063  30 


Income  in  excess  of  disbursements $3,064,472  91 

Average  for  each  year $1,021,490  97 


160                     THE  LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.   TILDEN. 

CHAMPLAIN. 

1872 $150,64428        $236,21147  $251,87161        $488,08308 

1873 158,41786          234,67737  562,78295           797,46032 

1874 123,70354          203,13790  242,21643           445,35433 


$427,765  68  $1,7.30,897  73 


Excess  of  expenditure  over  income $1,303,132  05 

Average  for  each  year $434,377  35 

OSWEGO. 

1872 $90,79657        $171,79482  $141,67394  $313,46876 

1873 88,42813            93,93881  78,88058  172,81939 

1874 70,11959          107,93821  75,56129  183,49950 


$249,344  29  $669,787  65 


Excess  of  expenditure  over  income $420,443  36 

Average  for  each  year $140,147  78 

CAYUGA  &  SENECA." 

1872 $17,88258          $38,26723       $26,31900  $64,58623 

1873 22,481  11            27,143  48           6,921  06  34,064  54 

1874 19,31147            28,93408         28,51704  57,45112 


$59,675  16  $156,101  89 


Excess  of  expenditure  over  income $96,426  73 

Average  for  each  year $32,142  24 


RECAPITULATION  FOR  THREE  YEARS. 

Income,  over  Expenditure. 
Eric $3,064,472  91 

Excess  of  Expenditure  over  Income. 

Champlain $1,303,132  05 

Oswego 420,443  36 

Cayuga  &  Seneca 96,426  73 


1,820,002  14 


Each  year $414,823  59 


THE    PAYING    CANALS. 

It  will  be  seen  that  during  the  last  three  years  the  income  of  the 
Erie  Canal,  considered  alone,  has  been  $8,143,536.21,  and  its  expenses 


FIRST  ANNUAL   MESSAGE.  161 

$5,079,063.30,  yielding  a  surplus  of  $3,064,472.91.  or  an  average  for 
each  year  of  $1,021,490.97.  The  excess  of  expenditure  over  income 
of  the  three  other  canals  which  are  to  be  retained  by  the  State  has 
been  $1,820,002.14,  or  three-fifths  of  the  surplus  produced  by  the  Erie. 
Considering  the  four  as  a  system  collectively,  the  surplus  has  been 
$1,244,470.77,  or  an  average  for  each  year  of  $414,823.59. 

THE   NON-PAYING   CANALS. 

During  the  same  three  years  the  five  other  canals  to  which  the 
constitutional  amendment  applies  have  given  an  income  of  $119,864.- 
45,  or  for  each  year  of  $39,954.81,  against  an  expenditure  of  $1,596,- 
499.74,  or  for  each  year  of  $532,166.59.  They  have  consumed  all  the 
net  income  of  the  paying  canals  and  have  charged  the  State  with  a 
loss  of  $232,164.52,  or  for  each  year  $77,388.17.  In  addition  to  this 
annual  loss,  the  whole  burden  of  the  sinking-fund  to  pay  the  canal 
debt  is  thrown  upon  the  State. 

INCEEASE   INCOME   BEFOEE   DISCAEDING   INCOME. 

A  careful  investigation  whether  the  net  incomes  of  the  canals  re 
tained  cannot  be  increased,  ought  to  precede  a  surrender  of  what 
little  now  exists.  Ordinary  repairs  should  be  scrutinized  with  a  view 
to  retrenching  their  cost,  and  to  obtaining  the  largest  possible  results 
from  the  outlay.  Extraordinary  repairs  include  much  which  so  regu 
larly  recurs  in  different  forms,  that  they  must  be  considered  a  part  of 
the  maintenance  of  the  works.  No  doubt  they  also  include  improve 
ments  which  are  of  the  nature  of  new  capital.  These  and  all  im 
provements  should  be  governed  by  a  plan  and  purpose  leading  to 
definite  results ;  and,  instead  of  scattering  expenditures  on  imperfect 
constructions,  should  aim  to  complete  and  make  available  the  specific 
parts  undertaken.  Unity  of  administration  and  of  system,  both  in 
respect  to  repairs  and  improvements,  should  be  established,  even  if 
only  by  the  voluntary  consultation  and  cooperation  of  officers  having 
authority  over  separate  portions  of  a  single  work.  It  is  worthy  of 
consideration  whether  any  legislation  can  aid  in  securing  the  unity 
in  this  respect  which  existed  under  our  former  constitution. 

NEW  YOEK  THE  TRUSTEE  FOE  THE  INTEEEST8  OF  ALL. 

The  State,  hearing  all  parties  interested  in'  the  use  of  the  canals, 
will  remember  that  itself,  as  an  arbiter  and  trustee,  must  look  equita 
bly  to  the  interests  of  all.  This  it  will  do  in  a  wise,  liberal,  and  just 
spirit.  To  the  last  degree  possible  it  will  cheapen  facilities  to  trade. 


162  THE   LIFE   OF   SAMUEL   J.   TILDEN. 

It  will  aim  to  preserve  for  its  metropolis  its  position  as  tlie  carrier, 
merchant,  and  banker  of  the  New  World. 

CHIEF    FUNCTION 'OF   THE    CANAL    SYSTEM — NEW    TOEK   CITY. 

Inevitable  changes  must  be  recognized  as  the  results  of  modern 
inventions  and  improvements  in  the  machinery  of  transportation. 
When  water-routes  alone  existed,  products  came  to  New  York  for 
distribution  to  points  which  are  now  more  easily  and  cheaply  reached 
directly  by  rail.  Railroads  covering  the  country  like  a  network 
touch  so  many  points  that  they  are  a  more  perfect  and  complete 
agency  for  the  reception  and  distribution  of  produce  than  a  water 
communication  connecting  a  few  principal  points;  and  where  the 
transit  from  the  producer  to  the  consumer  requires  the  use  of  the  rail 
to  reach  the  water,  or  after  leaving  the  water,  or  both,  the  all-rail 
route  will  often  be  preferred.  New  routes  will  acquire  the  business 
which  is  naturally  tributary  to  them,  and  take  besides  some  portion 
of  the  general  business.  The  main  transportation  of  Western  agri 
cultural  products  is  for  local  consumption  in  the  East.  What  comes  to 
us  for  our  own  consumption  cannot  be  diverted.  What  goes  for  con 
sumption  elsewhere  cannot  be  acquired.  The  exports  of  agricultural 
products  to  foreign  countries  are  but  a  small  part  of  the  whole  pro 
duction.  In  those,  New  York  will  easily  continue  to  maintain  her 
preeminence. 

The  Ohamplain  and  Oswego  Canals  are,  as  well  as  the  Erie,  in 
some  sense,  trunk-canals ;  and  the  Cayuga  &  Seneca  Canal  connects 
our  interior  lakes.  It  is  a  noteworthy  fact  that  Mr.  Flagg,  who  so 
long  and  honorably  conducted  the  State  finances  when  the  Canal  De 
partment  was  a  bureau  in  his  office,  always  insisted  that  with  the  four 
canals  now  to  be  retained  the  system  was  complete.  Those  it  is  now 
proposed  to  abandon  are  not  fruits  of  his  policy. 

DISPOSITION   OF   THE  NON-PAYING   CANALS. 

The  adoption  of  the  constitutional  amendment  removing  the  pro 
hibition  against  "  selling,  leasing,  or  otherwise  disposing  of "  the 
canals  owned  by  the  State  in  respect  to  all  except  the  Erie,  the  Os 
wego,  the  Champlain,  and  the  Cayuga  &  Seneca  Canals,  undoubtedly 
contemplates  such  action  on  your  part  as  will  disencumber  the  reve 
nues  of  the  canals  retained  by  the  State,  and  disembarrass  the  Treas 
ury  of  the  State  from  the  unproductive  works  in  respect  to  which  the 
prohibition  is  withdrawn.  It  cannot  have  been  supposed  possible  to 


FIRST  ANNUAL   MESSAGE.  163 

"  sell  or  lease"  those  works  on  conditions  which  require  the  pur 
chaser  to  maintain  and  operate  them.     To  "  otherwise  dispose  of  " 
v  them  amounts  to  a  practical  abandonment. 

USE   AS   FEEDEES. 

Even  to  deal  with  them  thus  involves  many  important  questions 
of  a  business  character.  Those  portions  of  them  which  descend 
toward  the  Erie  Canal  act  as  feeders  to  supply  water  to  that  canal. 
The  supply  cannot  be  safely  diminished,  and  might  be  judiciously  in 
creased.  The  improvement  of  the  water-way  contemplated  will  call 
for  more  water.  The  consideration  of  what  must  be  done  to  retain 
as  feeders  portions  of  these  canals  not  hereafter  to  be  maintained  by 
the  State  for  navigation,  or  what  other  provision  for  a  supply  of 
water  shall  be  substituted,  is  important.  To  make  the  change  con 
templated  by  the  amendment  with  as  little  harm  as  possible  to  pri 
vate  interests,  and  to  consider  and  provide  for  cases  of  possible 
damage  which  may  be  caused  by  the  works  when  falling  into  disuse, 
need  careful  study  of  the  facts  of  the  situation.  It  is  also  to  be 
ascertained  what  portion,  if  any,  of  the  property  of  the  State  con 
nected  with  these  works  can  be  wisely  sold. 

A    SPECIAL    COMMISSION    EECOMMENDED. 

The  best  suggestion  which  occurs  to  me  on  this  subject  is  to  im 
pose  the  duty  of  considering  and  reporting  on  these  questions  upon 
a  special  commission  consisting  of  four  persons.  In  the  mean  time, 
no  expenditures  should  be  made  upon  those  works  which  are  not 
strictly  necessary  in  view  of  their  probable  future. 

THE   INTEEEST   OF   NEW   TOEK  IN-   THE   FINANCIAL   POLICY    OF   THE 
UNITED    STATES. 

The  State  of  New  York  receives  nearly  seven-tenths  of  all  the 
imports,  and  sends  abroad  nearly  half  of  all  the  exports  of  the  whole 
United  States.  In  its  commercial  metropolis  a  much  larger  share  of 
our  dealings  with  foreign  nations  in  securities  and  money  is  trans 
acted,  and,  as  at  a  common  mart,  the  exchanges  are  largely  made 
between  the  people  of  the  United  States  in  domestic  manufactures 
aud  products,  and  in'  public  and  corporate  securities  and  stocks. 
More  than  one-half  of  the  revenues  of  the  Federal  Government  is 
collected  within  its  borders ;  and  at  least  one-fifth  of  all  Federal  tax 
ation  falls  upon  its  citizens. 

Since  the  Federal  Government  has  assumed  to  provide  a  currency 


164  THE  LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.   TILDEN. 

for  the  whole  country,  directly  by  the  issue  of  its  own  notes,  or  in 
directly  by  bank-notes,  which  are  secured  upon  bonds  of  the  United 
States,  and,  in  case  of  default  by  the  issuer,  are  to  be  paid,  before  re 
sorting  to  the  securities,  by  the  United  States ;  since  it  has  incident 
ally  absorbed  the  regulation  of  the  business  of  banking ;  since  it  has 
largely  increased  its  taxation,  and  imposes  that  taxation  in  forms 
which  affect  the  courses  of  industry  and  the  application  of  capital 
and  labor,  it  is  impossible  to  exclude  these  vast  operations,  and  the 
administrative  policy  and  the  legislation  connected  with  them,  from  a 
review  of  "  the  condition  of  the  State,"  which  it  is  the  constitutional 
duty  of  the  Governor  to  communicate,  with  such  recommendations 
"as  ho  shall  judge  expedient,"  "to  the  Legislature  at  every  session." 

CAN   MOKE    CURRENCY   REVIVE   PROSPERITY? 

The  illusion  is  too  common  that  an  additional  issue  of  currency  in 
legal  tenders  or  bank-notes  would  alleviate  the  distress  now  felt  in 
business,  cause  a  general  rise  of  prices,  and  revive  a  seeming,  if  not  a 
real,  prosperity.  Thus  many  are  tempted  to  desire  or  to  acquiesce  in 
a  demand  upon  the  Federal  Government  to  put  out  new  promises  to 
pay,  while  it  is  yet  in  a  long-continued  default  as  to  those  heretofore 
made ;  and  to  do  so  after  ten  years  of  peace,  while  having  no  better 
excuse  for  its  present  default  than  lack  of  skill  in  applying  its  abun 
dant  resources  to  the  restoration  of  the  public  faith. 

The  hope  of  benefits  to  any  class  from  such  an  unsound  policy 
would  prove  to  be  completely  fallacious.  It  would  prolong  and  in 
tensify  the  evils  sought  to  be  alleviated.  This  conclusion  is  clear  upon 
principle,  and  in  our  own  experience.  In  order  distinctly  to  see  its 
truth,  it  is  only  necessary  to  analyze  that  function  in  the  business  of 
society  which  is  performed  by  the  circulatory  credits  known  as  cur 
rency. 

CURRENCY   BUT   A   PART   OF   CIRCULATING   CREDITS. 

To  economize  the  use  of  metallic  money,  which  had  become  tho 
common  instrument  of  exchange,  personal  credit,  in  the  form  of  book 
accounts,  was  introduced.  For  example,  the  farmer  delivered  to  the 
country  merchant  his  grain  when  ready  for  the  market,  and  tho  mer 
chant  delivered  his  goods  at  the  times  when  th'ey  were  wanted  by  the 
farmer  for  consumption ;  each  delivery  was  entered  in  a  running  ac 
count,  until  a  balance  was  struck,  and  even  then  the  settlement  gen 
erally  took  place  without  the  intervention  of  money,  which  neither 
party  had  the  capital  to  own  for  each  transaction,  or  to  pay  the  ulti- 


FIRST   ANNUAL   MESSAGE.  165 

mate  balance.  Next  came  the  note  of  hand,  and,  when  the  transac 
tion  was  between  parties  doing  business  at  different  places,  drafts  and 
bills  of  exchange.  At  last  the  most  refined  tool  of  commerce  became 
perfected.  The  bank-note,  promising  to  pay  coin  on  demand,  to 
bearer,  in  an  even  and  convenient  amount,  engraved  and  authenti 
cated — when  issued  by  an  institution  or  individual  of  established  gen 
eral  credit — was  voluntarily  accepted  by  everybody  in  place  of  coin. 
It  is  the  currency  used  in  payment  by  those  who  do  not  keep  bank 
accounts,  and,  in  petty  transactions,  by  those  who  do  keep  bank  ac 
counts.  A  credit  inscribed  on  the  books  of  the  bank,  known  in  the 
language  of  commerce  as  a  deposit,  and  transferred  by  check,  is  the 
preferred  medium  of  payment,  in  all  save  petty  transactions,  by  those 
who  keep  bank  accounts.  It  is  preferred  because  a  check  may  rep 
resent  a  large  and  uneven  amount,  which  in  notes  would  be  incon 
venient  in  the  counting,  handling,  and  custody ;  and  a  check  payable 
to  order  is  safer,  and  is  itself  an  evidence  of  the  payment.  In  dense 
communities,  where  the  bank  is  near  the  customers,  checks  are  mostly 
used.  In  sparse  communities,  where  the  bank  is  remote  from  the 
dealers  and  holders,  bank-notes  are  mostly  used. 

These  two  tools  of  trade  and  mediums  of  payment  are,  in  their 
general  functions,  perfectly  identical. 

BANK-NOTES   AND   CHECKS   THE    SAME   IN   EFFECT   AND   NATURE. 

Their  real  nature  is,  that  they  are  a  provision  for  expected  pay 
ments,  and  a  reserve  for  possible  payments.  On  deposits,  the  holder 
submits  to  a  partial  or  total  loss  of  interest,  for  some  banks  allow  in 
terest,  at  low  rates,  on  deposits ;  on  bank-notes,  the  holder  submits 
to  a  total  loss  of  interest.  To  each  holder  the  motive  is  ever  present, 
to  reduce  his  non-interest-bearing  reserve  to  the  lowest  necessary 
amount,  by  investing  it,  if  it  be  his  own,  or  by  returning  it,  if  it  be 
borrowed. 

THEIR    AMOUNT    VAEIED    BY    PEOPLE'S   WANTS,    IF    PAYABLE   IN    COIN. 

If  the  currency  be  redeemable,  the  wants  of  the  community,  and 
not  the  wishes  of  the  banks,  will  determine  the  amount  which  will 
remain  outstanding.  All  that  Government  ought  to  do  toward  fixing 
that  amount  is,  to  provide  methods  to  enforce  payment  by  the  issuers 
of  such  notes  as  the  holders,  not  wishing  to  use,  return  to  the  issuers 
for  redemption. 


166  THE   LIFE   OF  SAMUEL   J.  TILDEN. 

AMOUNT    FLUCTUATES   WITH   THE   TIMES. 

It  is  true  that,  in  times  of  speculation,  the  currency  increases. 
Transactions  hecome  more  numerous.  Higher  prices  cause  the  same 
transactions  to  absorb  more  of  the  medium  of  payment.  There  is 
greater  disposition  to  provide  for  contemplated  or  possible  opera 
tions.  There  is  less  care  to  economize  the  loss  of  interest  on  the 
amount  kept  on  hand.  In  times  of  depression,  all  these  conditions 
are  reversed.  During  the  long  period  of  downward  tendencies,  from 
1837  to  1842,  the  currency  fell,  of  itself,  to  about  one-half  its  amount 
at  the  beginning  of  the  period. 

THE    RELATION    OF    CURRENCY    TO    PRICES. 

In  the  ordinary  and  regular  relations  between  a  redeemable  cur 
rency  and  prices,  the  fluctuations  in  the  currency  follow,  instead  of 
preceding,  changes  in  general  prices.  The  notes  in  the  hands  of  the 
public,  less  the  reserve  kept  for  their  redemption,  form  a  part  of  the 
loan-fund  of  a  bank,  but  that  amount  is  not  capable  of  being  in 
creased  at  the  will  of  the  bank,  until  a  speculation  has  arisen,  and 
higher  prices  or  more  transactions  have  resulted. 

Even  then,  the  increase  of  currency  merely  provides  for  the  prior 
increase  of  prices  or  of  transactions.  It  may  be  said  that  the  in 
crease  of  currency  is  a  condition  without  which  the  increase  of  prices 
or  transactions  could  not  happen,  but  that  is  not  true,  unless  it  be 
shown  that  no  other  tool  of  credit  than  bank-notes  could  be  used. 

In  cases  where  a  bank  originates  a  speculation  by  enlarging  its 
loans,  it  must  do  so  at  the  expense  of  its  customary  reserve. 

It  is  only  by  artificial  changes  in  the  currency — generally  made  by 
Government — that  the  currency  itself  becomes  the  primal  source  of 
speculation.  In  fact,  it  nearly  always  happens  that  speculative  pur 
chases  are  originally  made  on  personal  credit,  evidenced  by  open  ac 
counts  or  notes  of  hand.  The  banks  are  applied  to  only  at  the  expi 
ration  of  the  original  credit;  "and  then  what  is  wanted  is  not  a  con 
tinued  use  of  bank-notes,  but  a  loan  of  capital.  Bank-notes  are  one 
of  the  wheels  in  the  machinery  of  credit.  They  have  no  quality 
peculiar  in  its  action  on  prices,  or  different  in  its  action  on  prices 
from  any  other  part  of  the  machinery  of  credit.  The  currency,  at 
its  present  amount  of  bank-notes  and  legal  tenders,  is  less  than  the 
deposits,  and  is  but  a  small  fraction  of  the  whole  existing  mass 
of  credits,  including  book  accounts,  notes  of  hand,  drafts,  and  bills  of. 
exchange.  And  new  forms  of  credit  machinery  are  capable  of  being 


FIRST  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  167 

invented  indefinitely  as  when,  in  September,  1873,  the  New  York 
Associated  Banks  created  a  currency  of  twenty  millions  of  certifi 
cates,  to  be  used  in  the  exchanges  between  themselves. 

BUT   CUEEENOY    ONLY    SMALL   PAET    OF    CIECULATOKY    CEEDITS. 

It  is  idle  to  pronounce  the  machinery  of  credit  a  maniac,  dangerous 
to  the  community,  and  then  to  put  only  its  little  finger  in  a  strait 
jacket. 

EXPERIENCE   OF   ENGLAND. 

The  experiment  of  regulating  the  note  circulation  only  has  been 
completely  tried  in  Great  Britain.  In  1844,  when,  on  the  recharter 
of  the  Bank  of  England,  the  bank-note  circulation  of  that  country 
was  subjected  to  rules  which  were  supposed  to  make  it  fluctuate  ex 
actly  as  if  it  were  coin,  it  was  thought,  by  all  but  a  few  great  think 
ers,  that  there  would  ever  after  be  stability  of  prices  and  stability  of 
business.  But  in  1847,  in  1857,  and  in  1866,  commercial  revulsions  of 
undiminished  severity  demonstrated  the  fallacy  of  these  hopes,  and 
of  the  system  on  which  they  were  founded.  While  the  note  circula 
tion  has  ever  since  been  confined  by  law  to  a  nearly  constant  amount, 
the  deposit  circulation  has  increased  many  fold.  The  vicissitudes  of 
credit  are  as  violent  as  ever.  It  is  apparent  that  whenever  a  foreign 
demand  for  coin  arises,  not  caused  by  domestic  overtrading,  the  sys 
tem  creates  an  artificial  scarcity  of  an  important  instrument  of  com 
merce,  and  subjects  all  business  to  an  unnecessary  perturbation ;  that, 
whenever  a  panic  destroys  the  credit  of  inferior  dealers,  and  the  in 
terposition  of  the  highest  credit  is  called  for  to  supply  the  vacuum 
and  revive  confidence,  the  system  breaks  down — the  law  limiting  the 
issues  of  bank-notes  is  suspended  with  the  approval  of  the  ministry, 
and  with  a  promise  to  appeal  to  Parliament  for  an  act  of  indemnity. 

WHY   AND   nOW    INCONVERTIBLE   OUEEENCY    DEPRECIATES. 

The  depreciation  of  a  currency,  not  convertible  into  coin,  repre 
sents  the  interests  and  risk,  as  estimated  by  the  judgment  of  investors, 
on  a  loan  payable  at  the  will  of  the  Government,  without  interest — 
subject  to  such  temporary  fluctuations  as  are  induced  by  the  varia 
tions  in  the  supply  and  demand  of  coin  in  which  that  loan  is  ulti 
mate^  payable. 

THUS    INFLATING   PEICES. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  issue  of  legal  tenders  during  the  civil 
war  hastened  and  greatly  increased  that  inflation  of  prices  which 


1G8  THE  LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

naturally  resulted  from  the  increased  consumption  and  tlio  waste 
caused  by  military  operations,  and  from  the  diminished  production 
occasioned  by  so  large  a  withdrawal  of  workers  from  their  ordinary 
industries. 

It  is  the  nature  of  credit  to  be  voluntary.  It  is  founded  on  con 
fidence.  Credit  on  compulsion  is  a  solecism.  So  that  a  forced  loan 
of  capital  from  all  existing  private  creditors  cannot  but  be  costly. 

LEGAL-TENDEK    FINANCING. 

It  was  made,  in  this  instance,  on  a  security  which  bore  no  inter 
est,  and  interest  on  which  could  only  be  represented  in  discount  from 
its  par  value.  It  gave  to  the  lender  an  agreement  to  pay,  which, 
being  instantly  due  on  demand,  started  in  its  career  a  broken  and 
dishonored  promise.  Every  successive  holder  was  left  to  conjecture 
when  it  would  be  redeemed  by  the  issuer — how  far  it  might  be  ab 
sorbed  in  the  Treasury  receipts — whether  it  could  still  be  paid  out  to 
some  private  creditor — at  what  loss  it  could  be  passed  away  in  new 
purchases,  on  a  market  advancing  rapidly  and  irregularly.  Every 
body  was  advised  that  the  Federal  Government — unwisely  distrust 
ing  the  intelligence  and  patriotism  of  the  people — shrank  from  exer 
cising  its  borrowing  power,  supplemented  by  its  taxing  power ;  that 
instead  of  resorting  at  once  to  the  whole  capital  of  the  country  capa 
ble  of  being  loaned,  which  forms  a  vast  fund  perhaps  thirty  or  forty 
times  as  large  as  the  then  existing  currency,  it  chose  to  begin  by 
debasing  that  comparatively  insignificant  part  of  circulating  credits, 
creating  fictitious  prices  for  the  commodities  and  services  for  which 
it  was  next  to  exchange  its  bonds,  in  an  expenditure  ten  times  as 
large  as  the  whole  amount  of  the  legal  tenders  it  ventured  to  put 
afloat,  No  man  could  know  how  often  or  how  much  of  legal  tenders 
might  be  issued,  under  possible  exigencies  of  the  future.  It  could 
not  be  wholly  forgotten  that  such  issues,  made  by  our  ancestors  to 
sustain  the  victorious  war  for  national  independence,  were  never 
redeemed,  while  the  public  loans  made  for  the  same  purposes  were 
all  paid.  It  was  remembered  that  history  affords  other  warning  ex 
amples  to  the  same  effect.  These  elements  of  distrust  were  needlessly 
invoked.  But  the  system  stopped  short  of  the  logical  completeness 
of  the  expedients  of  the  French  Convention  in  1793.  While  it  com 
pelled  the  existing  private  creditor,  or  anybody  who  should  grant  a 
new  credit,  to  accept  payment  in  legal  tenders,  it  did  not  assume  to 
regulate  the  prices  of  commodities.  The  seller,  therefore,  gradually 


FIKST  ANNUAL   MESSAGE;  169 

learned  to  represent  the  depreciation  of  the  currency  in  the  price  of 
the  article  he  exchanged  for  it.  As  compared  with  gold,  the  currency, 
during  all  the  last  year  of  the  war  was  depreciated  to  between  forty 
and  fifty  cents  on  the  dollar,  touching  at  its  lowest  point  thirty-five 
cents  on  the  dollar. 

HOW   IT   RAISED   PRICES   BY   PROVOKING   SPECULATION. 

It  was  not  alone  by  the  direct  effect  of  the  depreciation  of  the  cur 
rency  that  prices  were  acted  upon ;  speculation  was  engendered.  Po 
litical  economy  takes  little  account  of  the  emotional  and  imaginative 
nature  of  man.  In  long  periods,  with  numerous  instances,  the  aver 
age,  deduced  as  a  law,  may  perhaps  discard  that  element.  B.ut  in  a 
particular  instance,  or  at  a  particular  time,  it  is  often  very  potent, 
and  must  be  estimated  in  any  calculation  which  aims  at  accuracy. 

After  a  period  of  rest— when  the  disposition  to  activity  begins  to 
revive — a  slight  circumstance  often  excites  a  speculation  that  becomes 
general.  The  opening  of  a  new  market,  an  apprehended  deficiency 
in  the  supply  of  a  commodity,  any  one  of  a  thousand  circumstances, 
may,  in  a  certain  state  of  the  public  mind,  be  a  spark  to  kindle  a 
blaze  of  speculation  throughout  the  commercial  world.  How  much 
more,  then,  might  it  have  been  expected  that  such  a  govermental 
policy  would  inspire  and  inflame  the  spirit  of  speculation  !  The  effect 
was  greatest  during  the  process  of  a  new  issue  of  currency,  or  while 
it  was  anticipated.  After  the  issue  was  completed  there  was  gener 
ally  a  subsidence,  or  a  reaction — 

AND  NEEDLESSLY  DOUBLED  THE  BURDEN  OF  THE  WAR. 

The  Government  consumption  during  the  war  was  mostly  of  our 
domestic  products.  As  soon  as  the  channels  of  traffic  could  be 
adapted  to  the  new  points  of  consumption,  and  the  new  classes  of 
consumers,  there  was  no  more  difficulty  in  the  transfer  of  these  prod 
ucts  from  producers  to  consumers  than  in  the  ordinary  operations  of 
commerce  during  peace. 

Governments,  in  times  of  public  danger,  cannot  be  expected  al 
ways  to  adhere  to  the  maxims  of  economical  science  ;  the  few,  who 
would  firmly  trust  to  the  wisest  policy,  will  be  often  overborne  by 
the  advocates  of  popular  expedients  dictated  by  general  alarm.  If 
the  Federal  Government  had  paid  out  Treasury  notes,  not  made  a 
legal  tender,  in  its  own  transactions,  whenever  it  was  convenient, 
and  redeemed  them  by  the  proceeds  of  loans  and  taxes  on  their  pre- 


170  THE  LIFE  OF  SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

sentation  at  a  central  point  of  commerce,  and  meanwhile  had  bor 
rowed  at  the  market  rates  for  its  bonds,  secured  by  ample  sinking- 
funds,  founded  on  taxation,  and  had  supplemented  such  loans  by  all 
necessary  taxes,  the  sacrifice  would  not  have  been  half  that  required 
by  the  false  system  adopted ;  perhaps  the  cost  of  the  war  would  not 
have  been  half  what  it  became. 

This  analysis  of  the  process,  by  which  the  changes  in  the  currency 
operated  to  produce  the  effect  on  prices  witnessed  by  the  people,  is 
necessary,  in  order  to  intelligently  discuss  the  problem  now  pressed 
upon  us.  For  the  fallacy  lurks  in  many  minds  that  the  quantity  of 
the  currency,  even  when  it  has  become  stationary  and  quiescent,  cre 
ates  by.  its  direct  action  a  state  of  prices  proportionate  to  that  in 
quantity. 

BELATION    OF    THE    QUANTITY    OF    GUEEENCY    TO    THE   RANGE    OF    PEJCES. 

But  this  fallacy  is  confuted  by  our  own  experience.  The  pre 
mium  on  gold  fell  from  185  in  July,  1864,  to  29  in  May,  1865 ;  or 
rather  the  currency  rose  from  35  cents  to  77  cents  in  gold  value, 
while  the  amount  of  the  currency  remained  undiminished.  The 
quantity  of  the  currency  in  the  hands  of  the  public — taking  the  ag 
gregate  of  the  legal  tenders  and  the  bank-notes,  and  excluding  all  of 
both  which  are  held  by  the  Treasury  or  by  the  banks — is  now  larger 
than  at  any  former  period.  The  existence  of  such  a  quantity  has 
not  arrested  the  tendency  to  a  general  fall  of  prices.  The  present 
inconveniences  in  business,  which  it  is  proposed  to  remedy  by  a  new 
issue  of  currency,  have  originated  and  gone  on  to  their  maturity, 
while  the  currency  was  being  distended  to  its  greatest  volume. 

EXCESS    OF    CUEEENCY,    YET    FALLING    PEICES. 

An  excess  beyond  what  is  capable  of  being  used  for  the  business 
of  society  is  now,  for  the  first  time,  distinctly  indicated.  The  move 
ment  of  the  crops  in  the  last  autumn — which  required  something  like 
one-tenth  addition  to  the  ordinary  amount — created  no  stringency. 
The  banks  have  voluntarily  withdrawn  some  millions  of  their  circu 
lation.  It  is  probable  that  the  amount  capable  of  being  absorbed  by 
the  business  of  the  country  will  continue  to  fall  for  a  long  period. 

WHEN   INFLATION    CANNOT   INFLATE. 

In  such  a  condition  of  business,  of  credit,  and  of  the  public  tem 
per,  a  new  issue  of  currency  would  not  cause  a  rise  of  prices,  unless 


FIRST  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  171 

it  were  so  excessive  as  to  occasion  speculative  depreciation,  or  dis 
trust  of  ultimate  redemption.  It  could  not  reanimate  the  dead 
corpse  of  exhausted  speculation.  A  period  of  quiescence  must  or 
dinarily  precede  a  renewal  of  the  spirit  of  adventurous  enterprise. . 

DISTEESS    FEOM   FALLING    VALUES    AND    LACKING    CAPITAL. 

The  distress  now  felt  is  incident  to  the  continued  fall  of  values, 
which  is  the  descending  part  of  the  cycle  through  which  they  must 
pass  after  being  farced  up  to  an  unnatural  elevation.  The  want  felt 
is  a  want  of  capital  which  the  party  does  not  own,  and  has  not  the 
credit  to  borrow,  not  a  lack  of  currency.  It  is  caused  by  invest 
ments  in  enterprises  which  have  turned  out  to  be  wholly  or  partially 
bad,  or  which  give  slower  returns  than  were  anticipated — by  too 
much  conversion  of  circulating  capital  into  fixed  capital — by  excessive 
undertakings  or  engagements,  induced  by  a  reliance  on  a  credit  that 
was  transient.  In  a  period  of  falling  prices,  good  property  becomes 
less  convertible.  It  loses  its  circulatory  quality.  It  almost  ceases  to 
be  a  resource  to  obtain  money. 

HOW   DISTRESS   CANNOT   BE    CUBED. 

These  inconveniences  would  not  be  removed,  if  the  Government 
should  put  out  legal  tenders  and  take  in  a  corresponding  amount  of 
bonds,  or  if  a  bank  should  deposit  bonds  and  receive  notes  in  ex 
change.  Still  the  individual  distressed  for  the  want  of  capital  would 
have  no  additional  means  to  buy  or  borrow  these  new  issues,  which 
the  new  owner  would  obtain  only  by  paying  for  them.  A  diminu 
tion  of  the  Government  bonds  outstanding  is  a  condition  of  the  in 
crease  of  legal  tenders  or  bank-notes.  If  an  embarrassed  person 
could  obtain  the  Government  bonds  surrendered  or  deposited,  he 
would  be  as  much  relieved  by  his  power  to  dispose  of  them  as  he 
would  by  a  power  to  dispose  of  the  legal  tenders  or  bank-notes.  His 
difficulty  is  that  he  is  equally  unable  to  obtain  either.  He  has  not 
the  means  to  buy  or  the  credit  to  borrow  them. .  What  he  wants  is 
something  to  make  his  bad  investments  good — his  slow  investments 
current;  something  to  make  his  property  convertible — to  impart  to 
it  a  circulating  quality,  as  when  there  is  a  general  rise  of  values 
under  a  speculative  excitement,  and  everybody  is  disposed  to  buy, 
and  everything  finds  a  ready  market. 

INOEEASE    OF    CUEEENCT    CANNOT    CUBE   DISTEESS. 

He  wants  something  to  create  in  others  a  disposition  to  buy,  in 


172  THE  LIFE  OF  SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN.     • 

order  that  he  may  be  able  to  sell.  This  is  what,  in  the  present  state 
of  things,  an  increase  of  the  currency  will  not  do.  It  would  not  act 
mechanically  on  prices.  It  does  not  operate  by  physical  means.  It 
simply  influences  the  minds  of  men.  It  induces  them  to  buy,  and,  in 
the  effort  to  do  so,  they  bid  up  prices.  It  is  only  when  the  minds  of 
men  are  disposed  to  receive  an  impulse  toward  buying  that  such  an 
effect  is  produced.  "When  speculators  go  into  the  market  to  influence 
others  to  buy,  in  order  that  they  may  sell,  the  conference  usually 
ends  in  a  fall.  Even  when  speculators  go  into  the  market  to  sell  on 
an  event  expected  to  cause  a  rise,  the  result  is  commonly  a  fall. 
Everybody  cannot  get  out  at  once  at  the  expense  of  others. 

CHANGING   FOEMS   AND   VAETING   VOLUME    OF   CIRCULATORY    CREDITS. 

The  amount  of  currency  required  by  the  needs  of  business  is  not 
to  be  decided  by  former  experience.  There  is  no  doubt  that,  on  the 
first  issue  of  legal  tenders,  they  were  largely  substituted  for  other 
forms  of  credit.  A  single  case  will  illustrate :  The  sudden  rise  in 
prices  enabled  the  farmer  to  become  the  owner  of  the  floating  capital 
on  which  his  next  year's  dealings  with  the  country  merchants  were 
to  be  carried  on.  The  habits  of  business  change  to  adapt  themselves 
to  new  conditions.  It  is  possible  that  the  Government  might  cau 
tiously  follow  the  tendencies  of  trade,  and  retire  each  clearly-ascer 
tained  surplus  without  doing  any  harm.  But  a  withdrawal  of  any 
considerable  portion  of  the  amount  required,  at  the  season  of  the 
year  which  creates  the  largest  demand,  would  produce  serious  and 
unnecessary  distress.  The  adoption  of  a  system  which  should  threat 
en  such  a  result  would  be  very  mischievous.  The  Federal  Govern 
ment  is  bound  to  redeem  every  portion  of  its  issues  which  the  public 
do  not  wish  to  use.  Having  assumed  to  monopolize  the  supply  of 
currency,  and  enacted  exclusions  against  everybody  else,  if  is  bound 
to  furnish  all  which  the  wants  of  business  require.  The  case  is,  as  if 
the  Government  should  undertake  to  monopolize  the  supply  of  lake- 
propellers  or  canal-boats  to  bring  grain  to  market.  If  it  should  not 
furnish  enough,  the  derangement  of  business  and  the  distress  of  pro 
ducers  and  consumers  would  be  intolerable.  While  securing  redemp 
tion,  the  Government  should  organize  a  system  which  passively 
allows  the  volume  of  circulating  credits  to  ebb  .and  flow,  according  to 
the  ever-changing  wants  of  business.  It  should  imitate,  as  closely  as 
possible,  the  natural  laws  of  trade,  which  it  has  superseded  by  artifi 
cial  contrivances. 


FIRST  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  173 

EASY    CONDITIONS    OF   RESUMING   SPECIE   PAYMENTS. 

The  ability  of  the  Federal  Government  to  resume  specie  payments 
is  thus  simply  a  question  of  its  command  of  resources  to  pay  such 
portions  of  the  circulating  credits  it  has  issued  as  the  public,  not 
wishing  to  use,  may  return  upon  it  for  redemption.  The  amount  to 
be  paid  cannot  be  considered  large,  in  comparison  with  its  financial 
operations.  It  has  the  taxing  power,  and  by  reducing  its  expenditure 
could  accumulate  an  adequate  surplus.  It  has  the  borrowing  power 
and  good  credit.  It  can  niake  permanent  loans  and  pay  the  Treasury- 
notes  which  are  returned  for  redemption.  It  can  convert  them  or 
fund  them  into  interest-bearing  securities.  In  that  case,  they  would 
cease  to  be  currency,  and  wrould  take  their  place  among  investments 
Jike  national,  State,  municipal,  railroad,  or  other  corporate  bonds,  or 
any  of  the  numerous  forms  of  moneyed  securities,  of  which  many 
thousand  millions  are  held  in  our  country.  The  circulatory  quality, 
in  securities  of  equal  general  credit,  is  chiefly  a  question  of  the  rate 
of  interest  they  bear. 

The  amount  of  coin  necessary  for. resumption  is,  first,  an  adequate 
reserve  to  meet  the  demand  for  exportation,  for  wrhich  the  Treasury 
would  become  the  universal  reservoir ;  and,  second,  a  surplus  suffi 
cient  fully  to  assure  the  people  that  the  Treasury  supply  would  not 
be  exhausted.  The  power  to  command  coin  as  the  owner  of  foreign 
bills  of  exchange,  or  in  other  forms,  would,  to  a  large  extent,  be 
equivalent  to  possessing  coin.  Beyond  such  an  amount  of  coin,  the 
question  is  simply  a  question  of  capital. 

The  exact  time  of  actual  resumption,  the  process,  the  specific 
measures,  the  discreet  preparations — these  are  business  questions  to 
be  dealt  with,  in  view  of  the  state1  of  trade  and  of  credit  operations 
in  our  own  country,  the  course  of  foreign  commerce  and  the  condi 
tion  of  the  exchanges  with  other  nations,  the  currents  of  the  pre 
cious  metals,  and  the  stocks  from  which  a  supply  would  flow  with 
out  undue  disturbance  of  the  markets  of  other  countries.  These  are 
matters  of  detail,  to  be  studied  on  the  facts  and  figures.  They  be 
long  to  the  domain  of  practical  administrative  statesmanship. 

EESUMPTION   LESS    COSTLY    THAN    PRESENT    IMPOLICY. 

It  is  quite  clear  that  the  problem  ought  to  be  worked  out,  with 
out  costing  the  country  anything  like  -such  disturbance  in  its  busi 
ness  and  industries  as  the  operations  of  the  Federal  Government 
during  the  last  ten  years  have  repeatedly  created.  The  natural 


174    '  THE   LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

causes  which  affect  trade  may  be  foreseen,  and  all  dealers  can  calcu 
late  them  with  equal  advantages  in  everything,  except  their  own  dif 
ferences  in  intelligence  and  judgment.  But  the  action  of  an  official, 
conducting  the  largest  financial  operations  in  the  country,  and  exer 
cising  dominion  over  the  circulatory  credits  that  are  part  of  the  ma- 
•  chinery  by  which  the  mass  of  private  transactions  are  carried  on, 
cannot  but  tend  to  create,  in  all  industries,  uncertainty,  confusion,  and 
miscalculation. 

HOW    PKESENT   IMPOLICY    HARASSES    ALL   BUSIXE3S-MEX. 

It  was  said,  after  the  revulsion  of  1837,  that  the  barometer  of  the 
money  market  of  America  hung  up  in  the  parlor  of  the  Bank  of 
England.  The  barometer  which  hangs  up  in  the  Treasury  Depart 
ment  at  Washington  does  not  merely  indicate  conditions  and  changes 
of  the  financial  atmosphere;  it  creates  them.  Its  stormy  vicissitudes 
harass  the  business  of  the  whole  country. 

The  partial  cessation  of  productive  industries,  and  the  partial  want 
of  employment  which  now  exists,  are  chiefly  produced  by  the  fear 
of  the  employers  that,  if  they  carry  on  their  works,  they  may  pro 
duce  at  a  loss.  The  abstinence  from  purchase  by  all  those  classes  of 
dealers  who  buy  and  get  up  stocks  to  provide  for  future  consumption 
is  chiefly  caused  by  the  fear  of  a  further  decline  of  prices.  Under 
these  apprehensions  the  demand  is  much  less  than  the  ordinary  con 
sumption.  The  instant  manufacturers  or  merchants  are  convinced 
that  prices  have  reached  the  bottom,  even  for  the  period  of  an  ordi 
nary  business  operation,  they  will  begin  to  resume  their  function  in 
the  economy  of  trade.  The  wheels  of  our  complex  industries  will 
move,  workmen  will  find  employment,  and,  with  revived  confidence 
in  the  future,  prosperity  will  be  renewed  in  its  sources.  Nothing 
could  be  more  unwise,  more  mischievous  in  its  ultimate  results,  than 
to  interrupt  the  healing  process  of  Nature  by  expedients  which  will 
fail  of  affording  any  real  relief,  and  will  be  certain  to  accumulate  new 
materials  for  another  catastrophe. 

It  has  seemed  to  me  fit  that,  on  this  occasion,  the  opinions  of  the 
great  Commonwealth  we  represent,  which  is  so  largely  interested  in 
these  questions,  should  be  declared  on  the  side  of  sound  finance,  pub 
lic  integrity,  and  national  honor ;  and,  in  making  this  communication 
the  medium  of  an  authentic  expression  on  the  subject,  I  follow  the  ' 
example,  on  similar  occasions,  of  several  of  the  most  illustrious  of 
my  predecessors. 


FIRST  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  -  175 

EESULTS   DUEING   TEN   TEAES    OF   PEACE. 

It  is  now  almost  ten  years  since  the  civil  war  ceased.  That  period 
ought  .to  have  sufficed'  to  renew  our  productive  industries,  to  repair 
the  wastes  of  our  accumulated  capital,  and  to  restore  to  our  people 
a  sound  and  durable  prosperity.  'But  an  indispensable  condition  of 
such  results  was  energy,  skill,  and  economy  in  production,  and  fru 
gality  in  public  and  private  consumption. 

MISUSED    POWEES    OF    FEDEEAL    GOVEENMENT. 

The  Federal  Government  has  all  the  while  been  the  greatest  sin 
gle  power  in  the  country  to  influence  results,  not  only  by  its  own  vast 
fiscal  operations,  its  dominion  over  the  currency  and  the  business  of 
banking,  and  the  effect  of  its  transactions  on  investments  of  capital, 
and  on  the  temporary  conditions  of  the  money  market,  but  by  the 
ascendency  it  acquired  during  a  period  of  public  danger  over  public 
opinion  and  over  the  conduct  of  individuals.  It  is  to.  be  deplored 
that  this  great  capacity  for  controlling  action  and  for  leadership  has 
not  conducted  us  to  better  results.  .  * 

The  period  has  been  characterized  by  unsound  public  finance,  an 
uncertain  policy  in  respect  to  the  currency,  a  series  of  speculative 
excitements  tending  to  unproductive  enterprises  and  unremunerative 
investments  of  capital,  and  terminating  in  distressing  reactions  in 
credit  and  business ;  a  want  of  efficiency  and  economy  in  production, 
extravagance  in  public  and  private  expenditure,  enormous  taxation 
and  complicated  systems  of  revenue — which  have  increased  the  cost 
and  wasted  the  fruits  of  that  taxation,  and  rendered  capital  and  labor 
less  productive — and  frequent  spoliation  of  private  and  public  trusts. 

GOVEENMENTS    TOO    COSTLY. 

In  the  decade  beginning  July  1,  1865,  the  people  will  have  paid 
in  taxes,  computed  in  currency,  seven  thousand  million  dollars. 
Three-fifths  were  for  the  use  of  the  Federal  Government,  and  two- 
fifths  for  the  State  and  municipal  governments.  It  is  doubtless  true 
that  some  portions  of  the  municipal  expenditures  were  for  objects 
not  strictly  governmental.  But  it  cannot  -be  questioned  that  much 
too  large  a  portion  of  the  whole  net  earnings  of  industry,  and  of  the 
whole  net  income  of  society,  is  taken  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  on 
government  in  this  country.  The  burden  could  more  easily  be  borne 
when  values  were  high,  and  were  ascending.  As  they  recede  toward 
their  former  level,  the  taxes  consume  a  larger  quantity  of  the  prod- 


176  THE   LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.   TILDEN. 

ucts  which  have  to  be  sold  in  order  to  pay  them.  They  weigh  with 
.  a  constantly-increasing  severity  upon  all  business  and  upon  all  classes. 
They  shrivel  up  more  and  more  the  earnings  of  labor  This  condi 
tion  of  things  ought  to  admonish  us,  in  our  respective  spheres,  to  bo 
as  abstinent  as  possible  in  appropriations  for  public  expenditures.  If 
the  cost  of  government  in  our  country  were  reduced,  as  it  ought  to 
be,  one-third,  it  would  still  be  larger  than  a  few  years  ago,  taking 
account  of  the  prices  of  the  products,  which,  in  order  to  pay  that 
cost,  we  are  compelled  to  convert  into  money. 

TAXATION   TOO   BUKDENSOME. THE    PROSTKATION    OF    THE    SOUTH. 

The  people  are  less  able  to  bear  such  taxation  by  reason  of  the 
want  of  efficiency  and  economy  in  production,  and  the  want  of  fru 
gality  in  consumption,  generated  by  the  causes  already  indicated,  and 
also  by  reason  of  the  failure  to  completely  renew  the  productive 
energies  and  activities  of  the  States  of  the  South,  which  furnish  about 
half  of  the  exportable  commodities  of  the  country,  other  than  spe 
cie;  which  are  large  consumers  of  our  manufactures  and  produc 
tions,  and  which  make  us  their  carriers,  merchants,  and  bankers  in. 
all  their  domestic  and  foreign  transactions, . 

It  has  been  proudly  ascribed  to  the  humanity  of  our  age  that, 
.since  the  surrender  at  Apppmattox,  not  one  life  has  been  sacrificed 
to  the  policy  of  the  victorious  Government.  It  is  to  be  wished  that 
we  were  equally  free  from  the  criticism  that  the  retribution  visited 
upon  our  former  adversaries  merely  conforms  to  the  higher  modern 
estimate  of  property,  as  compared  with  life  ;  that  exercising  a  moral 
coercion,  invigorated  by  a  standing  menace  of .  military  force,  v?& 
have  held  those  communities  bound  in  withes,  to  be  plundered  by 
rulers  destitute  of  support  in  their  public  opinion,  and  without  title . 
to  our  own  respect  or  trust. 

FINAL   ACCEPTANCE  OF   AMENDMENTS    TO    FEDERAL    CONSTITUTION. 

'Such  has  been  our  course,  after  and  in  spite  of  the  fact  tha.t  these 
our  kindred  in  a  common  ancestry,  a  common  heritage,  and  a  common 
future,  had  joined  at  national  conventions  in  the  nomination  of  can 
didates,  and  in  the  declaration  of  principles  and  purposes,  which 
form  an  authentic  acceptance  of  the  results  of  the  war,  embodied  in 
the  last  three  amendments  to  the  organic  law  of  the  Federal  Union, 
and  that  they  had  by  the  suffrages  of  all  their  voters,  at  Ihe  last 
national  election,  completed  the  proof  that  now  they  only  seek  to 
share  with  us  and  to  maintain  the  common  rights  of  American  local 


FIRST  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  177 

self-government,  in  a  fraternal  union,  under  the  old  flag  with  "  one 
Constitution  and  one  destiny." 

There  should  be  no  misunderstanding  as  to  this  position  of  our 
Southern  brethren,  or  of  any  portion  of  our  fellow-citizens.  The 
questions  settled  by  the  war  are  never  to  be  reopened. 

The  adoption  of  the  thirteenth,  fourteenth,  and  fifteenth  amend 
ments  to  the  Federal  Constitution  closed  one  great  era  in  our  politics. 
It  marked  the  end  forever  of  the  system  of  human  slavery,  and  of 
the  struggles  that  grew  out  of  that  system.  These  amendments  have 
been  conclusively  adopted,  and  they  have  been  accepted  in  good  faith 
by  all  political  organizations,  and  the  people  of  all  sections.  They 
close  the  chapter,  they  are  and  must  be  final;  all  parties* -hereafter 
must  accept  and  stand  upon  them,  and  henceforth  our  politics  are  to 
turn  upon  questions  of  the  present  and  the  future,  not  upon  those  of 
the  settled  and  final  past. 

THE   PEOPLE   MUST   AGAIN   ATTEND   TO   PUBLIC   AFFAIES. 

The  nobler  motives  of  humanity  concur  with  our  interests  in 
making  us  hail,  with  heart-felt  congratulations,  a  real  and  durable 
peace  between  populations  unnaturally  estranged.  The  time  is  ripe 
to  discard  all  memories  of  buried  strifes,  except  as  a  warning 
against  their  renewal ;  to  join  all  together  to  build  anew  the  solid 
foundations  of  American  self-government.  For  nearly  a  generation 
the  controversies  which  led  to  fratricidal  conflict  have  drawn  away 
the  attention  of  the  people  from  the  questions  of  administration 
which  involve  every  interest  and.  duty  of  good  government.  The 
culture,  the  training,  and  the  practice  of  our  people  in  the  ordinary 
conduct  of  public  affairs,  have  been  falling  into  disuse.  Meanwhile 
the  primitive  simplicity  of  institutions  and  of  society,  in  which  gov 
ernment  was  little  felt,  and  could  be  neglected  with  comparative  im 
punity,  has  been  passing  away.  If  public  necessities  must  wring  so 
much  from  the  earnings  of  individuals,  taxation  must  become  scien 
tific.  In  our  new  condition  all  the  problems  of  administration  have 
become  more  difficult.  They  call  for  more  intellect  and  more  knowl 
edge  of  the  experience  of  other  countries.  They  need  to  become  the 
engrossing  theme  of  the  public  thought  in  the  discussions  of  the 
press  and  in  the  competition  of  parties,  which  is  the  process  of  free 
institutions.  The  people  must  once  more  give  their  minds  to  ques 
tions  that  concern  the  ordinary  conduct  of  government,  if  they 
would  have  our  country  to  start  afresh  in  a  career  of  prosperity  and 
renown. 


CHAPTER    XVII. 

•  '  .         •  • 

THE   LOUISIANA    OUTRAGE. 

AT  the  time  when  the  whole  country  was  excited  over  the 
Louisiana  outrage,  Governor  Tilden  addressed  a  manly  com 
munication  to  the  Legislature  of  New  York,  setting  forth, 
with  characteristic  clearness,  the  details  of  that  disgraceful 
usurpation  of  power  by  the  Federal  Government.  It  has 
been  thought  advisable  to  reproduce  that  communication  in 
this  connection.  It  is  a  statesmanlike  view  of  the  whole  diffi 
culty  in  Louisiana,  and  displays  at  once  a  full  knowledge  of 
the  case,  and  an  honest  indignation  at  the  insult  which  had 
been  offered  the  people  of  a  sister  State.  Pricking  through 
the  gauzy  pretext  which  was  held  up  as  an  excuse  for  this  act 
of  military  despotism,  Mr.  Tilden  shows  that  it  was  not  only 
unlawful,  but  that  it  was  without  the  color  of  legality.  He 
shows,  moreover,  that  the  astonishing  proposition  of  General 
Sheridan,  to  consider  a  certain,  number  of  citizens  as  banditti, 
without  even  describing  who  should  be  embraced  under  that 
head,  was  as  preposterous  as  it  was  unconstitutional.  And 
yet  it  was  in  reply  to  this  proposition  that  the  late  Secretary 
of  War,  William  W.  Belknap,  sent  back  the  telegraphic  dis 
patch,  "  The  President  and  all  of  us  have  full  confidence  in 
and  thoroughly  approve  your  course." 

Governor  Tilden's  sense  of  justice  impelled  him  to  give  an 
expression  of  his  views  on  this  question.  It  may  be  remarked 
that  the  message  to  the  Legislature  was  received  by  the  peo 
ple  of  the  State  of  New  York,  irrespective  of  party  affiliations, 
as  a  wise  and  manly  document. 


THE  LOUISIANA  OUTRAGE.  179 

The  message,  which  was  dated  January  12,  1875,  reads  as 
.follows  : 

On  your  reassembling,  I  deem  it  to  be  my  duty  to  invite  your  at 
tention  to  the  grave  events  which  have  happened  in  our  sister  State 
of  Louisiana.  The  interval  of  your  adjournment  has  offered  you  an 
opportunity  to  receive  the  statements  of  the  parties  concerned  in  those 
occurrences,  particularly  that  of  Lieutenant-General  Sheridan,  in  his 
official  report  to  the  Secretary  of  War,  dated  January  8,  1875.  You 
are  now  enabled  to  know  with  certainty  all  the  facts  necessary  to 
form  a  just  and  deliberate  judgment  as  to  the  nature  of  the  principal 
acts  which  have  created  so  much  public  excitement. 

According  to  the  official  report  of  Lieutenant-General  Sheridan, 
the  United  States  soldiers  entered  the  House  of  Eepresentatives  of 
the  State  of  Louisiana,  while  that  body  was  in  session,  and  removed 
from  it  five  of  its  members. 

The  pretexts  of  this  act  are  : 

1.  That  it  was  done  under  directions  from  the  Governor  of  the 
State,  recognized  by  the  President. 

2.  That  the  persons  removed  "  had  been  illegally  seated,"  and 
"'had  no  legal  right  to  be  there." 

3.  That  a  fear  existed  in  the  mind  of  Lieutenant-General  Sheridan 
that,  in  some  undefined  contingency,  violence  might  happen. 

With  respect  to  the  first  and  second  of  these  pretexts,  it  is  a  de 
cisive  answer — that  the  Louisiana  House  of  Eepresentatives  had,  by 
the  constitution  of  that  State,  the  exclusive  judgment  as  to  the  right 
of  these  members  to  seats  ;  that  its  judgment  is  subject  to  no  review' 
by  any  judicial  authority,  still  less  a  review  by  the  Governor  or  by  any 
officer  of  the  United  States  Army;  that  its  judgment  in  favor  of 
these  members  thus  forcibly  removed  is  binding  in  law,  and  conclusive 
upon  the  Governor  and  Lieutenant-General  Sheridan,  and  upon  every 
other  person. 

In  respect  to  the  third  pretext,  the  fear  in  the  mind  of  Lieutenant- 
General  Sheridan  of  possible  future  violence,  when  no  violence  really 
existed,  is  not  only  no  lawful  occasion,  but  not  even  an  excuse  for  an 
invasion  of  the  right  of  the  House  of  Representatives  of  Louisiana  to 
judge  for  itself  of  the  title  to  seats  of  its  own  members. 

Interference  by  United  States  soldiers  was  not  only  unlawful,  but 
it  was  without  the  color  of  legality.  It  was  an  act  of  naked  physical 
force  in  violation  of  the  laws  and  the  constitution  of  Louisiana,  and  of 


180  THE  LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.- TILDEN. 

the  laws  and  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  There  is  a  case  of  a 
disputed  seat  in  the  Senate  of  this  State  now  pending.  Another  was 
determined  at  the  last  session.  The  transaction  in  Louisiana  is  as  if, 
at  the.  instance  of  the  Governor  of  this  State,  General  Hancock,  com 
manding  in  this  department,  or  an  officer  specially  deputed  by  the 
President,  should  send  a  file  of  Federal  soldiers  and  remove  the  in 
cumbent  to  whom  the  seat  had  been  adjudged  by  the  Senate.  That 
disorders  had  formerly  existed  in  Louisiana  makes  no  difference. 
For  the  laws — to  which  the  President  and  Congress  are  parties-^ 
recognize  the  complete  restoration  of  her  autonomy.  .  The  right  of 
her  legislative  bodies  to  determine  the  title  of  their  members  is  as 
perfect  and  as  absolute  as  the  right  of  the  Assembly  or  the  Senate  of 
New  York;  . 

The  animus  of  the  transaction,  as  indicated  by  the  correspondence 
between  Lieutenant-General  Sheridan  and  the  Secretary  of  War,  is 
infinitely  worse  than  the  transaction  itself.  On  the  day  after  the 
event,  Lieutenant-General  Sheridan  sent  a  dispatch  proposing  that  a 
class  of  citizens,  indefinite  in  number  and  description,  should  be  de 
clared,  either  by  act  of  Congress  or  by  proclamation  of  the  President, 
to  be  banditti  ;  and  then  indicates  his  purpose  to  try  them  and  exe 
cute  them  by  military  commission.  On  the  next  day,  General  Bel- 
knap,  the  Secretary  of  War,  telegraphed  to  General  Sheridan  that 
"  the  President  and  all  of  us  have  full  confidence  in  and  thoroughly 
approve  your  course." 

The  nature  of  the  acts  thus  proposed  by  the  oificer  second  in 
command  of  the  army  of  the  United  States,  and  thus  adopted  and 
sanctioned  by  the  President  and  his  constitutional  advisers,  is  plainly 
declared  by  the  common  law. 

In  the  recent  case  of  the  Queen  vs.  Nelson  and  Brand,  the  present 
Lord  Chief -Justice  of  England,  in  delivering  the  charge  to  the  grand- 
jury,  declared  that  "supposing  that  there  is  no  jurisdiction  at  all, 
that  the  whole  proceeding  is  coram  nonjudice,  that  the  judicial  func 
tions  are  exercised  by  persons  who  have  no  judicial  authority  or  power, 
and  a  man's  life  is  taken,  that  is  murder  ;  for  murder  is  putting  a 
man  to  death  without  a  justification,  or  without  any  of  those  miti 
gating  circumstances  which  reduce  the  crime  of  murder  to  one  of  a 
lower  degree.  Thus,  in  the  case  put  by  Lord  Coke  of  a  lieutenant 
having  a  commission  of  martial  law  in  times  of  peace,  that,  says  Lord 
Coke,  is  murder." 

Such  are  the  established  doctrines  of  the  jurists  and  courts  of  this 


THE  LOUISIANA   OUTRAGE.  181 

country  and  of  England.  Such  is  the  voice  of  common  law — glorious 
jurisprudence  of  freedom  !  birthright  of  every  American  citizen ! 
Its  stern  logic  declares  that  such  an  execution  of  any  human  being, 
as  was  proposed  and  sanctioned  in  this  correspondence,  would  be 
murder  by  our  laws  ;  and  that  every  functionary — civil  or  military — 
who  should  instigate  it,  aid  or  abet  it,  or  become,  in  any  manner;  a 
party  to  it  before  the  fact,  would  be  guilty  as  a  principal  in  that 
crime. 

The  patriot  statesmen  who  achieved  our  national  independence, 
end  formed  our  institutions  of  free  government,  foreboded,  if  we 
should  ever  fall  in  intestine  strife,  that  the  ideas  it  would  inspire  in 
military  minds — of  insubordination  to  the  laws  and  of  uncivic  ambi 
tion — and  the  habit  it  would  generate  in  the  people,  of  acquiescence 
in  acts  of  unlawful  military  violence — would  imperil,  if  not  destroy, 
civil  liberty.  Events  compelled  us  to  a  manly  choice  of  confronting 
these  dangers  in  a  struggle  to  save  our  country  from  dismemberment, 
and  to  vindicate  the  just  rights  of  the  Federal  Union.  Having  tri 
umphed  in  that  struggle,  now  forever  closed,  we  are  made  sensible  of 
the  wise  foresight  of  the  founders  of  our  freedom  in  their  warning 
of  the  opposite  dangers  which  would  attend  our  success.  Those 
dangers  come  to.  us  in  acts  of  illegal  military  violence,  committed  in 
times  of  peace — in  the  usurpation  by  the  soldiery  of  a  power  to  de 
cide  the  membership  of  our  legislative  assemblies,  whose  right  to 
judge  exclusively  in  such  cases  has  ever  been  guarded  with  peculiar 
jealousy  by  our  race — in  the  proposal,  made  and  accepted  by  our 
highest  civiland  military  functionaries,  to  subject  our  citizens  to 
tribunals  in  which  a  military  officer  will  decide,  without  appeal,  what 
persons,  happening  to  be  found^.in  the  locality,  shall  be  sent  to  them 
for  trial — will  appoint  the  members  of  the  court — will  review  and 
confirm  or  change  the  judgment  and  sentence — and  may  order  in 
stant  executions,  and  in  which  the  accused  will  be  tried  in  secret,  and 
without  counsel  for  his  defense.  This  proposition  is  thus  made,  and 
thus  sanctioned,  notwithstanding  that,  for  similar  acts,  our  English 
ancestors  sent  the  first  Charles  to  the  scaffold  and  expelled  the  sec 
ond  James  from  the  throne ;  and  pur  own  forefathers — exiled  by 
kindred  tyrannies  and  planting  freedom  in  the  wilderness — were 
careful  to  insert  in  our  Constitution  positive  prohibitions  against  the 
application  to  any  but  military  persons  of  such  tribunals. 

Unless  such  a  proposition,  so  made  and  so  sanctioned,  shall  be 
condemned  by  a  public  reprobation  which  shall  make  it  memorable 


182  THE   LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

as  a  warning  to  all  future  officers  of  the  State  and  the  army,  the  de 
cay  of  the  jealous  spirit  of  freedom,  the  loss  of  our  ancestral  tradi 
tions  of  liberty,  acquired  through  ages  of  conflict  and  sacrifice,  the 
education  of  the  present  generation  to  servile  acquiescence  in  the 
maxims  and  the  practices  of  tyranny,  will  have  realized  the  fears  of 
Washington  and  Jay  and  Clinton  and  their  compatriots. 

New  York,  first  of  the  Commonwealths  of  the  American  Union, 
in  population,  in  resources,  and  in  military  power,  should  declare 
her  sentiments  on  this  occasion,  with  a  distinctness,  a  dignity,  and  a 
solemn  emphasis^  which  will  command  the  thoughtful  attention  of 
Congress,  of  her  sister  States,  and  of  the  people  of  our-  whole  coun 
try.  With  the  same  unanimity  with  which  she  upheld  the  arms  of 
the  Union  in  the  past  conflict,  she  should  now  address  herself  .to  tlie 
great  and  most  sacred  duty  of  reestablishing  civil  liberty  and  the 
personal  rights  of  individuals,  of  restoring  the  ideas  and  habits  of 
freedom,  and  of  reasserting  the  supremacy  of  the  civil  authority  over 
the  military  power  throughout  the  republic. 

,  Notwithstanding  the  vigorous  denunciation  which  this 
message  contained,  it  was  admitted  on  all  sides  to  be  free 
from  undue  partisanship,  and  able  in  its  treatment  of  a  per 
plexing  question.  The  abuse  which  called  it  forth  was  so 
flagrant  that  its  denunciatory  tone  was  applauded  even  by 
those  who  were  not  in  sympathy  with  the  Governor. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 
THE  "CANAL  KING"  AND  ITS  OVERTHROW. 

IT  is  not  to  be  denied  that  when  Governor  Tildeii  entered 
upon  the  duties  of  his  office  there  was  a  large  number  of 
persons,  including  some  prominent  politicians,  who  held  him 
in  more  fear  than  love.  These  were  the  gentry  who-  consti 
tuted  the  "  Canal  Ring."  The  "  Canal  Ring  "  was  composed 
of  men  about  equally  divided  between  the  two  parties,  who 
gained  their  wealth  by  plundering  the  State  through  fraudu 
lent  contracts  for  repairing  the  canals.  Outside  the  "  Ring," 
but  connected  with  it  by  stronger  bonds  than  mere  sympathy, 
was  another  set  of  men  who  were  the  recipients  of  the 
"  Ring's  "  political  favors,  and  occasionally  received  dividends 
from  its  spoils.  The  inner  "  Ring  "  was  small,  and  centred 
around  one  firm  of  contractors  in  Syracuse  known  as  Deni- 
son  &  Belden,  but  embracing  more  members  than  those  names 
imply.  H.  D.  Denison,  who  was  everywhere  known  as 
"  Doc  "  Denison,  was  a  good-natured,  roistering  man,  who 
was  educated,  I  believe,  to  the  .medical  profession,  and  who 
had  served  for  some  years  as  a  member  of  the  Democratic 
State  Committee.  His  partner,  James  J.  Belden,  was  a  man 
of  strict  business  habits,  who  abstained  wholly  from  the  use 
of  liquor,  and  was  a  church-goer.  In  the  height  of  his  power 
he  was  nominated  by  the  Republicans  for  Mayor  of  Syracuse. 
It  used  to  be  said  of  the  firm  that  Denison  furnished  the  rum 
and  Democracy,  and  Belden  the  hypocrisy  and  Republicanism. 
The  power  which  these  men  exercised  in  Onondaga  County 
was  very  great.  They  not  only  employed  large  numbers  of 
workmen,  but  they  were  in  the  habit  of  doing  financial  favors 
on  easy  terms  to  influential  citizens  who  stood  in  need  of 


184  THE  LIFE  OF  SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

such  relief.  It  was  never  certain  at  any  time  who  was  under 
obligations  to  them,  but  almost  always  the  caucuses  went 
their  way.  Jarvis  Lord,  of  Monroe  County,  and  his  son 
George  D.  Lord  (who  is  now  under  conviction  for  bribery), 
were  also  contractors,  and  were  more  or  less  "intimately  con 
nected  with  Denison  &  Belden.  Jarvis  Lord,  at  the  time  the 
"  Canal  Ring  "  was  broken,  was  a  State  Senator.  His  son 
had  previously  occupied  a  seat  in  the  Assembly.  Willard 
Johnson,  another  canal  contractor,  was  also  a  member  of  the 
Legislature. 

Soon  after  Governor  Tilden's  inauguration  a  rumor  gained 
currency  that  he  contemplated  the  destruction  of  the  "  Canal 
Ring."  The  members  of  that  body  and  their  next  .friends 
haunted  the  vicinity  of  the  Executive  Chamber,  hoping  to 
discover  by  mere  propinquity  what  was  going  on.  As  time 
passed  and  nothing  occurred,  they  grew  bolder.  They  even 
went  so  far  as  to  patronize  the  Governor,  to  seek  his  presence, 
to  assert  their  friendship  for  him,  to  enlarge  on  the  fact  that 
the  region  which  the  "  Ring "  was  supposed  to  infect  had 
given  an  unusually  large  Democratic  vote,  and  to  assume,  in 
an  easy,  off-hand  way,  that  he  would  do  nothing  to  "  weaken 
the  party  "  in  that  locality.  As  other  Weeks  rolled  on  and  no 
action  was  taken,  they  became  confident  -that  they  were  safe, 
that  the  Governor  was  a  weak  man,  and  that  they  had  won 
him  over  to  their  side  by  blandishments  and  compliments. 
All  this  time,  however,  the  shadow  of  a  great  fear  hung 
around  them.  The  memory  of  Tweed's  fate,  of  the  over 
throw  of  the  "  Tammany  Ring,"  of  Tilden's  reputation  as  a 
reformer,  could  not  be  banished  from  their  minds.  They 
greedily  seized  upon  and  circulated  an  absurd  story  that  he 
had  been  paralyzed,  that  -his  health  was  failing,  that  he  was 
threatened  with  softening  of  the  brain. 

At  last  the  blow  fell.  On  the  19th  of  March  the  Gov 
ernor's  private  secretary  delivered  to  both  Houses  of  the 
Legislature  a  plain,  business-like  document,  in  the  form  of  a 
special  message  on  canal  matters. 


THE   "CANAL  RING"   AND   ITS  OVERTHROW.  185 

THE  MESSAGE. 

STATE  OF  NEW  YORK,  EXECUTIVE  CHAMBER,  j 
ALBANY,  March  19,  1875.  J 

To  tlie  Legislature: 

I  have  received  a  petition  from  forwarders,  boatmen,  and  others 
engaged  in  transportation  on  the  canals  of  this  State,  representing 
that  the  depressed  state  of  their  business  calls  for  legislation,  and 
necessitates  a  reduction  of  tolls ;  and  requesting  me  to  look  into  the 
condition  of  the  canal  commerce,  and  to  make  such  recommendations 
to  the  Legislature  as  will  lead  to  measures  of  relief. 

Respectful  consideration  is  due  to  so  large  and  important  a  class 
of  our  business-men.  They  are  proprietors  of  about  six  thousand 
boats,  which  are  said  to  give  employment  directly  to  thirty  thousand 
persons,  and  indirectly  to  twenty  thousand  others.  They  are  in  the 
peculiar  relation  of  partners  of  the  State  in  a  vast  internal  com 
merce",  owning  and  managing  the  equipment,  while  the  State  owns 
and  manages  the  body  of  the  canals.  The  State,  therefore,  not  only 
has  a  common  interest  in  the  preservation  of  the  joint  business,  but 
has  a  distinct  and  special  interest  in  the  ability  of  its  partners  to  con 
tinue  to  perform  their  functions,  without  which  the  joint  business 
could  not  be  transacted.  It  cannot  afford  to  suffer  the  equipment 
of  the  canals  to  be  broken  up ;  to  allow  a  dispersion  of  the  traffic 
which,  if  once  lost,  will  not  be  easily  regained ;  •  or  to  omit  any 
measures  of  retrenchment  in  expenditure  or  economy  of  administra 
tion  which  will  enable,  it  and  its  partners  to  meet  successfully  the 
increasing  competition  of  the  railways  with  each  other  and  with 
water-transportation. 

Impressed  with  the  considerations  which  induce  a  liberal  policy 
on  the  part  of  the  State  toward  its  partners  in  the  internal  commerce 
it  has  seen  fit  to  undertake,  I  am,  on  the  one  hand,  predisposed  to 
every  practical  and  just  measure  for  enfranchising  trade  and  indus 
try,  and  cheapening  the  interchange  of  commodities,  and,  on  the 
other,  to  listen  to  the  rightful  complaints  of  our  people  against  thD 
extreme  burden  of  our  present  taxation  and  the  prodigal  and  waste 
ful  expenditure  in  Connection  with  the  canals,  which  is  one  of  the 
main  causes  of  such  taxation. 

I  have,  therefore,  felt  it  my  duty  to  devote  the  intervals  of  time  I 
could  command  to  a  personal  investigation  of  the  subject,  in  order  to 
be  able  to  recommend  to  you  such  specific  measures  as  the  exigency 
seems  to  requite,  in  the  direction  indicated  in  the  following  passage 


186  THE  LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

of  the  message  I  had  the  honor  to  communicate  at  the  beginning  of 
your  session : 

"A  careful  investigation  whether  the  net  incomes  of  the  canals 
retained  cannot  be  increased,  ought  to  precede  a  surrender  of  what 
little  now  exist.  Ordinary  repairs  should  be  scrutinized  with  a  view 
to  retrenching  their  cost,  and  to  obtaining  the  largest  possible  results 
from  the  outlay.  .  .  .  All  improvements  should  be  governed  by  a 
plan  and  purpose,  leading  to  definite  results ;  and,  instead  of  scatter- 
tering  expenditures  on  imperfect  constructions,  should  aim  to  com 
plete  and  make  available  the  specific  parts  undertaken.  Unity  of 
•administration  and  of  system,  both  in  respect  to  repairs  and  im 
provements,  should  be  established." 

PEOBABLE   INCOME    OF   THE    CANALS. 

Exhibit  A  is  a  comparative  monthly  statement  of  the  tolls  on  all 
the  canals  for  the  years  1873  and  1874.  It  shows  that,  during  the 
months  of  October  and  November  and  a  few  days  of  December, 
which  fall  within  the  present  fiscal  year,  in,  which  period  about  one- 
quarter  of  the  tolls  of  the  year  were  collected,  the  decrease  of  tolls 
is  from  $836,123.27  to  $638,132.96,  or  $197,990.31.  The  decrease  is 
about  one-fourth  of  that  portion  of  the  tolls.  A  corresponding  de 
crease  for  the  months  of'  May,  June,  July,  August,  and  September, 
1875,  as  compared  with  the  same  months  of  1874,  would  amount  to 
$600,000.  That  would  leave  the  tolls  for  the  fiscal  year  of  1875  at 
$2,037,000. 

Assuming  them  to  realize  $2,250,000,  we  are  next  to  find  the 
probable  effect  of  the  reduction  in  rates  which  is  now  proposed. 

Exhibit  B  is  a  statement  of  the  effect  of  the  reduction  in  the  rates 
proposed  computed  on  the  tolls  of  the  calendar  year  of  1874. 

If  a  similar  computation  be  made  on  $2,250,000,  instead  of  $2,- 
637,070,  the  reduction  of  receipts  to  be  produced  by  the  lowering 
of  the  rates  would  be  $534,832.  The  gross  tolls  accruing  from  all 
the  canals  for  the  fiscal  year  ending  September  30,  1875,  would  be 
$1,715,168. 

This  diminution  of  tolls  presents  in  a  strong  light  not  only  the 
general  depression  of  commerce,  but  particularly  that  of  the  special 
business  of  the  boatmen  and  forwarders. 

TAXATION  FOE  CANAL  PUEPOSES, 

During  Five  Years  from  October  1,  1869,  to  September  30, 1874. 
The  public  mind  is  apt  to  be  confused  by  the  various  methods  in 
which  the  complex  accounts  of  the  State  are  kept.    A  careful  analy- 


THE   "CANAL  RING"  AND   ITS   OVERTHROW.          187 

sis  and  comparison  of  those  accounts  enable  the  following  results  to 
be  stated  in  a  simple  form  : 

The  total  amount  of  the  tolls  on  all  the  canals  dur 
ing  the  five  fiscal  years  ending  September  30, 
1874,  was $15,058,361  75 

The  aggregate  of  ordinary  expenses"  and  ordinary 

repairs  during  the  same  period  was 9,202,434  23 

The  apparent  surplus  was $5,855,927  52 


The  aggregate  of  extraordinary  repairs  during  the 

same  five  years  was $10,960,624  -84 

Deduct  the  apparent  surplus 5,855,927  52 


Real  deficiency,  being  exces.3  of  repairs,  ordinary 

and  extraordinary,  over  the  whole  tolls. . . . $5,104,697  32 

Other  payments  were : 

Interest $2,908,617  46 

Cost  of  premium  on  gold 703,468  35 

Cost  of  premium   on   stock   pur 
chased ... 31,736  00 

Transfer  expenses,  etc 21,238  49 

— 3,665,060  30 


Actual  cost,  exclusive  of  reduction  of  debt $8,769,757  62 

Payment  of  debt : 

Canal  debt $2,334,350  00 

General  Fund  debt,  over  the  re 
duction  of  moneys  in  sinking- 
funds 2,552,13228 

—       4,886,482  28 

Contribution  to  General  Fund 200,000  00 


$13,856,239  90 

The  taxes  levied  for  these  purposes  during  the 

same  period  were $14,789.848  25 


All  these  payments  are  directly  for  canal  purposes,  except  $2,552,- 
132.28,  which,  is  in  reduction  of  the  General  Fund  debt,  and  $200,000 
which  was  supplied  to  the  General  Fund. 

These  two  payments  also  are  indirectly  of  the  same  character. 


188  THE   LIFE  OF  SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

They  but  replace  fresh  advances  made  by  the  General  Fund  to  the, 
canals. 

In  the  five  years  anterior  to  the  period  under  consideration,  from 
October  1,  1864,  to  September  30,  1869,  the  taxes  levied  to  meet  de 
ficiencies  in  the  Sinking-Fund  were  $1,873,030.54,  and  the  taxes  levied 
for  extraordinary  repairs,  awards,  etc.,  were  $6,322,632.52,  making 
$8,195,663.06. 

The  constitution  (Art.  VII..  section  5)  provides  that  "  every  con 
tribution  or  advance  to  the  canals  or  their  debt  from  any  source  other 
than  their  direct  revenues  shall,  with  quarterly  interest,  at  the  rates 
then  current,  be  repaid  into  the  Treasury,  for  the  use  of  the  State, 
out  of  the  canal  revenues  as  soon  as  it  can  be  done  consistently  with 
the  just  rights  of  the  creditors  holding  the  said  canal  debt." 

In  citing  this  mandate  of  the  constitution,  it  is  not  intended  to 
revive  the  illusion  that  even  the  most  recent  advances  of  the  State 
for  the  use  of  the  canals  will  ever  be  restored  to  the  Treasury.  There 
is  little  probability  that  they  can  be  regarded  as  investments  capable 
of  producing  a  reliable  income.  So  far  as  these  enormous  outlays 
have  been  usefully  expended,  the  State  will  have  to  find  its  compen 
sation  for  the  taxes  it  has  imposed  upon  the  people  in  the  indirect 
benefits  of  its  efforts  to  cheapen  the  interchange  of  commodities. 

Exhibit  0  shows  the  expenditures  for  extraordinary  repairs,  etc., 
for  each  of  the  five  years. 

Exhibit  D  shows  the  expenditures  from  taxation  for  the  sinking- 
funds  during  the  same  period. 

Exhibit  E  shows  the  specific  application  of  the  surplus  of  tolls 
over  ordinary  expenses  and  repairs. 

CHAEACTEE    OF    THE   EXPENDITUEE. 

Some  items  of  the  outlay  attract  attention.  On  the  canals  which 
the  amendment  of  the  constitution  authorizes  -the  Legislature  to 
abandon,  there  was -expended  for: 

Extension  of  the  Chenango  Canal $676,158  68 

Black  River  Improvement 15,400  00 

Oneida  Lake 100,000  00 

Extraordinary  repairs 899,852  82 

Awards,  etc 969,875  57 

$2,661,287  07 


THE   "CANAL   RING"   AND   ITS  OVERTHROW.          189 

If  the  inability  of  these  canals  to-  meet  their  ordinary  expenses, 
or  indeed  to  make  any  respectable  contribution  toward  that  purpose, 
shall  compel  their  abandonment,  this  great  expenditure  will  be  a  total 
waste  of  money  wrung  from  the  people  by  taxation. 

On  the  Erie  Canal  the  following  are  two  specimens : 

Work  up  to  February  1,  1875,  on  contract  of  section 

1  of  Erie  Canal,  contracted  at  $74,183  40 $458,114  72 

Work  in  Black  Rock  and  Buffalo  har 
bors,  expended $717,333  00 

Engineering  expenses  estimated.. ... .         71,733  00 

Additional  appropriations  unexpended       170,000  00 

959,06600 

$1,417,180  72 


Total..' $4,078,467  79 

This  constitutes  four  millions  of  the  eleven  millions  expended  and 
the  twelve  millions  appropriated  for  canal  improvements  within  the 
last  five  years. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  whole  expenditure — at  rates 
far  too  costly — on  the  Erie  Canal  for  doubling 
locks  was $718,984  23 

For  taking  out  the  wall-benches 1,013,870  25 


$1,732,854  48 

It  is  impossible,  in  the  limited  time  which  the  exigency  allows,  to 
thoroughly  investigate  the  vast  mass  of  various  outlays  which  have 
cost  the  people  eleven  millions  of  dollars.  But  the  necessity  of  de 
termining  at  once  the  tolls  and  appropriations,  a  sense  of  how  small 
a  share  of  this  burdensome  taxation  has  attained  any  real  utility,  and 
how  much  of  it  has  been  wasted  in  unnecessary  work,  or  in  the  ex 
travagant  execution  of  improvements  in  themselves  useful,  and  a  clear 
perception  of  the  main  sources  of  the  evils  of  administration,  and  of 
reforms  attainable  by  legislation  without  a  change  of  the  constitution, 
make  it  my  duty  now  to  recommend  specific  and  affirmative  meas 
ures  of  redress. 

CAUSES. 

It  is  not  merely  in  the  general  laxity  and  demoralization  of  official 
and  political  life  that  we  are  to  look  for  the  causes  of  these  evils. 


190  THE   LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

The  interest  which  fattens  on  abuses  of  public  expenditure  is  intel 
ligent,  energetic,  and  persistent.  Acting  as  a  unit,  it  takes  part 
through  its  members  in  the  organization  and  the  doings  of  both 
political  parties  ;  seeks  to  control  nominations ;  rewards  friends 
and  punishes  enemies;  and  it  begins  to  operate  by  every  form  of 
seductive  and  coercive  influence  upon  public  officers  as  soon  aa 
they  are  elected. 

APPROPRIATIONS    FOB   ORDINARY    EXPENSES   AND   REPAIRS. 

I  renew  the  recommendation  in  respect  to  the  canals  which  the 
recent  amendments  of  the  constitution  empowered  the  Legislature  to 
"  sell,  lease,  or  otherwise  dispose  of,"  that,  while  the  manner  of  their 
disposition  remains  undetermined,  "  no  expenditures  should  be  made 
on  those  works  not  strictly  necessary  in  view  of  their  probable  fu 
ture."  In  order  to  carry  out  this  policy,  the  appropriations  for  ordi 
nary  expenses  and  repairs  upon  them  should  be  specified,  separated 
from  the  provisions  for  the  canals  which  the  constitution  requires 
to  be  retained ;  and  should  be  reduced  to  the  lowest  practicable 
amount. 

In  respect  to  ordinary  expenses  and  repairs  to  the  canals  which 
are  to  be  retained  as  the  property  of  the  State,  I  recur  to  the  sugges 
tion  which  I  had  the  honor  to  submit  in  the  annual  message  : 

"  Ordinary  repairs  should  be  scrutinized  with  a  view  to  retrench 
ing  their  costs,  and  to  obtaining  the  largest  possible  results  from  the 
outlay." 

In  the  present  state  of  the  prices  of  materials  and  the  wages  of 
labor,  if  the  .public  officers  can  be  inspired  with  a  resolute  purpose  to 
make  every  expenditure  for  these  objects  effective,  there  ought  to  be 
no  difficulty  in  reducing  the  appropriations  from  one-quarter  to  one- 
third  below  the  amount  provided  for  last  year. 

The  present  standard  of  repair  and  efficiency  must  be  fully  main 
tained. 

Everything  of  good  administration  consists  in  the  selection  of 
the  most  necessary  and  useful  objects  of  expenditure,  and  in  securing 
the  greatest  effectiveness  in  the  application  of  labor  and  the  most  ad 
vantageous  purchase  of  materials. 

If  a  determination  to  accomplish  this  result  and  a  sense  of  ac 
countability  can  be  diffused  throughout  the  agents  employed  in  the 
public  service,  this  object  will  be  easily  and  certainly  attained. 


THE   "CANAL   RING"   AND   ITS   OVERTHROW.  191 


AP.PEOPEIATIOXS  FOE-  EXTEAOEDINAEY  -EEPAIES. 

The  wisdom  of  abstaining  from  all  new  work,  except  that  which 
is  not  only  useful  but  absolutely  necessary,  is  obvious.  Every  item 
should  be  scrutinized  with  jealous  care. 

The  aggregate  ought  to  be  kept  within  half  a  million  ;  and  as 
much  below  that  maximum  as  possible.  A  thorough  retrenchment 
in  ordinary  and  extraordinary  repairs  will  enable  the  State  to  remit 
for  the  present  year,  as  compared  with  the  last,  to  the  boatmen  and 
transporters,  from  five  to  six  hundred  thousand  dollars  of  tolls,  and 
at  the  same  time  to  give  relief  to  our  overburdened  taxpayers,  in  a 
reduction  of  taxes,  to  the  extent  of  more  than  a  million  and  three 
quarters  of  dollars. 

If  the  restoring  the  Erie  Canal  to  its  proper  dimensions  and  the 
deepening  of  its  water-way,  which  is  by  far  the  most  useful  improve 
ment  contemplated,  can  be  deferred,  till  next  year,  after  its  present 
condition  shall  be  accurately  ascertained,  and  then  be  proceeded  with 
gradually,  there  is  little  else  which  cannot  wait. 

Justice  to  the  people  and  to  the  canals  demands  that  all  extraordi 
nary  repairs,  beyond  what-  are  clearly  necessary  to  efficient  naviga 
tion,  should  be  suspended  until  a  thorough  investigation  shall  show 
that  every  improvement  proposed  is  really  necessary ;  and  that  the 
work  is  to  be  conducted  under  fair  lettings  and  contracts,  and  is  to 
be  faithfully  executed. 

EEIE     CANAL. 

At  the  opening  of  navigation  the  present  season,  the  double  locks 
will  be  completed.  The  capacity  of  the  Erie  Canal  to  do  an  aggre 
gate  business  will  be  several  times  the  requirements  of  the  largest 
tonnage  it  has  ever  had. 

The  removal  of  the  wall-benches  will  be  so  nearly  completed  that 
the  advantages  of  that  change  will  be  practically  secured. 

On  September  30,  1874,  there  remained  of  wall-benches  24^^ 
miles  on  the  towing-path  side,  of  which  12T2^  miles  are  contracted 
to  be  removed;  and  46Tyg-  on  the  berme  side,  of  which  VyVVare 
contracted  to  be  removed;  leaving  12T\3Q-  miles  on  the  towing-path 
side,  and  39T\V  miles  on  the  berme  side,  where  the  obstruction  is 
much  less  important ;  or  equivalent  in  all  to  26  miles  on  both 
sides.  That  is,  less  than  V  per  cent,  of  the  whole  length  of  the 
canal. 


192  THE   LIFE   OF  SAMUEL   J.  TILDEN. 

The  engineer's  estimate  of  the  cost  of  removing  the  remaining 
wall-benches  was,  in  January,  1874,  $711,140;  and  an  appropriation 
of  $360,000  was  made  by  the  Legislature  of  1874,  which  will  be  avail 
able  for  expenditure  during  the  present  year. 

As  the  only  effect  of  the  wall-benches  now  remaining  is  that  they 
contract  the  jcanal  at  its  bottom  from  fifty-six  to  forty-two  feet,  and, 
in  that  proportion,  the  lower  part  of  the  prism,  forming  a  section 
four  feet  above  the  bottom  of  the  water-way — thus  lessening  the  body 
of  water  in  which  the  boat  moves  for  a  fourteenth  part  of  the  length 
of  the  channel,  and  but  one-fifth  of  that  on  the  towing-path  side — the 
inconvenience  of  their  existence,  to  this  limited  extent,  is  not  very 
great  or  emergent. 

In  my  judgment,  a  far  more  important  improvement  of  the  Erie 
canal  would  be  effected  by  a  thorough  system  of  ordinary  repairs, 
which  should  give  the  water-way  its  proper  and  lawful  dimensions  ; 
and  by  progressively  deepening  it,  wherever  reasonably  practicable, 
from  seven  to  eight  feet.  As  the  object  would  be  merely  to  enable 
the  submerged  section  of  the  boat  to  move  in  a  larger  area  of  water, 
so  that  the  displaced  fluid  could  pass  the  boat  in  a  larger  space,  it 
would  not  be. necessary  to-  alter  the  culverts  or  other  structures,  or  to 
carry  the  walls  of  the  canal  below  the  present  bottom  ;  and  the  bene 
fit  would  be  realized  in  each  portion  of  the  canal  improved,  without  ref 
erence  to  any  other  part  of  the  channel  which  should  remain  unchanged. 
In  facilitating  the  movements  of  the  boat,  and  quickening  its  speed, 
it  would  increase  the  amount  of  service  rendered  in  a  given  time,  and 
would  thereby  diminish  every  element  of  the  cost  of  transportation. 
It  would  benefit  the  boatmen  and  carriers  more,  even,  than  one  cent 
a  bushel  remission  of  tolls.  It  would  be  of  more  real  utility  to  navi- 
gatipn  than  five  or  ten  times  its  cost  expended  in  the  average  manner 
of  so-called  improvements  on  the  public  works.  But  it  is  too  simple, 
too  practically  useful,  to  enlist  the  imagination  of  projectors  who 
seek  the  fame  of  magnificent  constructions,  and  of  engineers  who 
build  monuments  for  exhibition  to  their  rivals,  or  to  awaken  the 
rapacity  of  cormorants  who  fatten  on  jobs. 

I  renew  the  recommendation  of  my  annual  message  upon  this 
subject ;  and  particularly  "  that  provisions  be  made  by  law  to  en 
able  the  State  Engineer,  soon  after  navigation  is  opened,  to  measure 
the  depth  of  water  in  the  canal  by  cross-sections  as  often  as.  every 
four  rods  of  its  length,  and  on  the  upper  and  lower  mitre-sill  of  each 
lock." 


THE   "CANAL  RING"   AND   ITS  OVERTHROW.  193 

V 

CANAL   LETTIXGS. 

The  constitution  of  the  State  provides  that  "  all  contracts  for 
or  materials  on  any  canal  shall  ~be  made  with  the  person  who 
shall  offer  to  do  or  provide  the  same  at  the  lowest  price,  with  adequate 
security  for  their  performance."1"1  This  requirement  was  intended  to 
protect  the  State  from  extravagant  contracts ;  but  by  artful  bids, 
and  in  some  cases  by  fraudulent  combinations,  it  is  made  an  instru 
ment  to  defeat  the  very  end  had  in  view  by  its  authors.  I  have  ex 
amined  more  than  one  hundred  contracts,  and  I  find  that  most  are 
so  contrived  that  not  only  does  the  State  in  the  end  pay  from  two 
to  four  times  the  amount  of  the  contract,  but  that  the  work  is  not 
given  to  the  lowest  bidder  in  fact,  although  it  may  be  in  form.  This 
result  is  brought  about  by  the  following  contrivance  : 

When  a  contract  is  to  be  let,  the  engineer  makes  out  an  estimate 
of  the  quantity  and  kinds  of  work  to  be  done.  Those  who  make 
bids  state  at  what  prices  they  will  do  each  kind  of  work,  or  furnish 
each  kind  of  material.  These  prices  are  footed  up,  and  the  bid 
which  amounts  to  the  smallest  sum  is  accepted.  The  sums  thus 
agreed  upon  average  but  little  more  than  one-half  the  amounts  esti 
mated  by  the  engineer,  and  apparently  the  State  makes  advantageous 
contracts.  On  examination,  it  will  be  found  that  the  prices  for  the 
several  items  bear  no  relation  to  their  real  value.  Jn  some  instances 
excavation  of  earth  is  put  at  one  cent  per  cubic  yard,  and  in  others 
eighty-five  cents  are  asked.  Excavation  of  rock  blasted  at  one  cent 
in  some  cases,  and  two  dollars  in  others.  Slope-wall  is  bid  for  in 
some  cases  at  twenty  cents,  and  in  others  at  two  dollars.  Hemlock 
timber,  which  is  worth  at  least  ..twelve  dollars  per  thousand,  is  in 
some  contracts  put  at  less  than  three  dollars  per  thousand,  and  in 
others  at  thirty  dollars  per  thousand.  Oak-timber  in  one  instance  is 
put  at  one  dollar  per  thousand,  and  in  others  at  seventy  dollars. 
Some  items  are  absurdly  low,  others  unreasonably  high. 

In  some  instances,  a  contractor  will  put  in  proposals  on  the  same 
day  for  different  jobs,  but  the  prices  for  the  same  kind  of  work  or 
materials  will  vary  in  his  several  proposals  several  hundred  per  cent. 

It  is  clear  upon  the  face  of  such  proposals  that  some  fraud  is  de 
signed,  but  the  commissioners  have  been  in  the  habit  of  accepting 
them.  I  am  happy  to  say  that  Commissioner  Thayer  at  a  recent  let 
ting  rejected  this  class  of  proposals,  which  are  known  as  "  unbalanced 
bids."  Heretofore  they  have  been  accepted,  and  not  only  has  the 
State  paid  unreasonable  prices,  but  more  than  one-half  of  the  work 


194  THE  LIFE   OF  SAMUEL    J.  TILDEN. 

s 

on  large  contracts  has  been  done  and  paid  for  without  being  adver 
tised  or  offered  to  the  lowest  bidders. 

The  contractor  gains  these  results  by  the  following  strategy : 

"When  the  engineer's  estimate  of  quantities  and  kinds  of  material 
is  published  by  the  commissioners,  the  contractor  will  find  out  by 
collusion,  or  in  some  other  way,  what  quantities  of  each  kind  of 
work  or  material  will,  in  fact,  be  required,  or  he  will  see  what  in 
fluence  he  can  exert  to  change  the  contract  after  it  is  made.  If  it  is 
changed,  no  new  letting  is  had,  but  he  claims  the  job  as  his  right. 

He  then  puts  in  his  bid,  offering  to  do  such  work  or  to  furnish 
such  material  as  he  finds  will  not  be  required  at  all,  or  in  small  quan 
tities,  at  absurdly  low  prices,  at  a  quarter  or  in  some  instances  at  a 
twentieth  part  of  its  cost.  The  items  which  will  be  required  in  full, 
and  probably  in  extra  quantities,  he  will  put  at  unreasonably  high 
rates,  and  it  turns  out  that  what  the  contractor  offers  at  low  prices 
is  called  for  in  small  quantities,  if  at  all,  while  those  which  are  put  at 
high  prices  are  not  only  required  in  full,  but  in  most  cases  in  extraor 
dinary  quantities. 

An  example  will  more  clearly  illustrate  how  the  State  is  defrauded 
by  these  devices. 

The  engineer  having  estimated  certain  work  and  materials  as 
follows : 

]  00  cubic  yards  of  vertical  wall,  at  $3 $300  00 

3,855  "  slope-wall  at,  $1  50 5,78250 

2,400  feet  B.  M.  white-oak,  at  $50 120  00 

60,000          "         hemlock,  at  $15 900  00 

Total  estimate $7,102  50 

A.'s  bid  for  the  job  at  these  rates  amounted  to  $7,102.50. 
B.'s  bid  for  the  same  was  for, 

100  cubic  yards  of  vertical  wall,  at  $6 $600  00 

3,855              "             slope-wall,  at  30  cents 1,156  50 

2,400  feet  B.  M.  white-oak,  at  $70 168  00 

60,000          "         hemlock,  at  $3 18000 

And  aggregated $2,104  50 

The  proposal  of  B.,  apparently  so  advantageous  to  the  State,  was 
accepted,  and  the  contract  awarded  to  him  as  the  "  lowest  bidder." 
But  afterward,  by  some  influence,  it  was  decided  to  make  only  ver 
tical,  and  no  slope  wall,  and  to  use  only  oak  and  no  hemlock  timber. 


THE   "CANAL   RING"   AND   ITS  OVERTHROW. 


195 


There  was  no  reletting,  although  the  agreement  had  been  in  fact  re 
vamped  into  a  new  and  different  contract,  which  enabled  B.  to  collect 
from  the  State  for 


3,955  cubic  yards  of  vertical  wall,  at  $6, 
62,400  feet  B.  M.  white-oak,  at  $70 


The  sum  of. 


$23,730  00 
4,368  00 

00 


It  will  be  seen  that  in  such  transactions — and  they  are  numerous 
— in  violation  of  the  constitution,  the  contractor  gets  the  work  with 
out  there  having  been  in  fact  any  public  letting,  or  any  chance  for 
competition  by  others. 

For  the  purpose  of  showing  the  actual  results  of  this  system,  I 
state  the  following  ten  cases,  which  give  the  amount  the  State  has 
paid  on  certain  contracts  in  comparison  with  the  sum  for  which  the 
contractor  agreed  to  do  the  work  at  the  lettings  made  by  the  com 
missioners  : 


CONTKACT. 

Amount  of  contract 
upon  exhibited  quan 
tities  at  contract 
prices. 

Amount  actually  paid 
by  the  State  up  to 
February  1,  1875. 

No.    1  

$74,183  40 

$458,114  72 

2  

29,431  00 

56,845  68 

3                                  

37,871  00 

110,320  13 

4         

10,617  00 

49,936  30 

5         .            

14,397  00 

78,967  20 

6     

85,562  50 

220,614  58 

7             .            

31,286  00 

130,317  45 

8  

86,584  00 

222,610  68 

9                     

9,504  00 

41,127  55 

10  •  

45,300  OtJ 

191,915  55 

Total  

$424,735  90 

$1,560,769  84 

These  show  that  the  State  has  already  paid  nearly  four  times  the 
amount  which  was  involved  by  the  terms  of  the  contracts,  and,  though 
this  excess  amounts  to  more  than  a  million  of  dollars,  some  of  the  ex 
penditures  are  still  going  on  with  no  prospect  of  completion.  It  also 
appears  that  of  the  expenditures  of  $1,560,769.84  only  $424,735.91— 
less  than  one-third — was  submitted  to  a  public  letting. 

By  manoeuvres  of  this  character  the  costs  of  public  works  are  run 
np  to  extravagant  sums.  Appropriations  are  absorbed,  deficiencies 


196  THE  LIFE   OF  SAMUEL    J.  TILDEN. 

are  created,  to  be  paid  by  new  appropriations,  and  the  people  are 
loaded  down  by  taxes. 

EEMEDIAL   MEASTJEES. 

Desiring  to  cooperate  with  you  in  a  reform  of  existing  abuses,  and 
of  the  systems  which  have  conduced  to  them,  I  submit  to  your  con 
sideration  such  suggestions  for  new  legislation  as  seem  to  me  adapted 
to  meet  the  wishes  and  protect  the  interests  of  our  common  con 
stituents. 

ENGINEEES'    ESTIMATES. 

Methods  ought  to  be  devised  to  make  the  estimates  of  the  kinds 
and  quantities  of  work,  exhibited  on  the  quantity-sheet  for  lettings 
of  contracts,  to  conform  to  the  actual  work  to  be  done.  On  a  change 
of  the  plan  or  specifications  of  a  contract,  the  work  under  the  old 
contract  should  be  closed,  and  a  new  letting  should  take  place. 

BIDDINGS. 

The  law  authorizes  the  Canal  Board  to  make  regulations  as  to  the 
biddings,  and  one  of  those  regulations  provided  for  discarding  bids 
which  show  bad  faith  upon  their  face. 

As  the  officers  who  let  the  contracts  have  not  enforced  this  regu 
lation,  except  in  a  recent  case,  a  law  should  be  passed  defining  their 
rights  and  duties  in  this  respect. 

I  recommend  that  hereafter  the  bids  be  opened,  and  the  awards 
of  contracts  be  made  by  the  Canal  Board.  It  is  a  larger  body,  and 
contains  the  officer  who  is  charged  with  the  fiscal  administration  of 
the  State,  and  also  the  State  Engineer.  It  was  formerly  vested  with 
these  duties,  and  the  change  was  only  made  to  serve  a  temporary 
party  object. 

OFFICIAL   ACCOUNTABILITY. 

In  the  organization  of  governmental  powers  two  conditions  seem 
essential  to  the  well-working  of  the  machinery  of  administration: 
1.  While  undue  concentration  of  powers  should  be  avoided,  and 
checks  and  balances,  in  the  requirement  of  the  concurrent  action  of 
several  persons,  are  preserved,  a  certain  unity  of  function  and  of 
organization  is  necessary  to  enable  the  people  to  enforce  any  real 
responsibility. 

An  issue  in  regard  to  the  conduct  of  public  officers,  or  in  regard 
to  a  policy  of  administration,  should  be  submitted  to  the  people  with 
the  simplicity  of  an  issue  to  a  jury  at  common  law.  The  million  of 
voters  in  the  State  cannot  resolve  themselves  into  a  committee  of 


THE   "CANAL   RING"   AND   ITS  OVERTHROW.  197 

investigation  to  hunt  out  by  long  and  tedious  search  the  particular 
wrong-doer.  They  cannot  convert  themselves  into  a  court  to  go 
through  a  complicated  and  protracted  trial.  Amid  the  numerous  and 
changing  objects  of  interest  which  attract  their  attention  they  cannot 
devote  themselves  to  a  single  specific  measure  of  ordinary  importance 
for  three  successive  years.  All  schemes  of  administration  which  in 
volve  such  impracticable  demands  for  cooperation  of  such  vast  num 
bers  of  individuals,  discard  the  idea  of  representation  in  government. 
They  compel  the  whole  voting  mass  to  conduct  the  complex  affairs 
of  human  society  in  person.  They  are  snares  invented  to  destroy 
the  power  of  the  people  in  their  own  government,  to  neutralize  the 
elective  principle,  and  to  create  official  irresponsibility. 

The  members  of  the  Canal  Board,  other  than  the  Canal  Commis 
sioners  and  the  Lieutenant-Governor,  are  all  chosen  at  one  election. 
The  elective  power  of  the  people  is  effectual  to  make  a  change  of  per 
sons  or  policy.  But  the  Canal  Commissioners  are  elected  one  each 
year,  and  it  takes  three  years  to  make  a  complete  change.  They 
have  practically  ceased  to  act  as  a  board.  Each  one  carries  on  his 
administration  over  his  division  of  the  canals  as  if  he  were  a  totally 
independent  authority.  They  make  three  separate  reports.  Each 
one  prepares  a  separate  annual  estimate  for  future  expenditures. 
They  formerly  sat  as  members  of  a  Board  of  Canal  Commissioners, 
who  consulted,  decided,  and  acted  as  one  integral  body.  Their  most 
important  functions  were  performed  as  members  of  the  Canal  Board, 
or  in  concert  with  the  Canal  Board,  which  embraced  the  great  officers 
of  the  State,  including  its  fiscal  representative,  who  is  under  an  ever- 
active  pressure  to  make  both-  ends  meet  in  the  financial  affairs  of  the 
State.  They  were  practically  subordinate  to  the  fiscal  members  of 
the  administration. 

2.  It  is  fundamental  that  the  spending  officers  must  be  subject  to 
the  influence  and  control  of  the  officers  whose  duty  is  to  provide  the 
ways  and  means.  No  great  corporate  business,  no  private  affairs 
could  be  conducted  successfully  on  any  other  plan.  The  experience 
of  the  State,  under  a  system  in  which  the  officers  who  initiate  ex 
penditure  and  control  the  application  of  the  public  money,  and  the 
execution  of  public  work,  have  been  independent  and  practically 
irresponsible,  has  been  fruitful  of  irregularities,  extravagance,  waste, 
and  corruption.  There  have  been  several  futile  impeachments,  but 
no  real  remedy. 

It  does  not  seem  expedient  to  wait  for  a  change  which  involves 


198  THE   LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

an  amendment  of  the  constitution,  and  will,  therefore,  take  several 
years.  There  are  measures  within  the  competency  of  the  Legislature 
which  can  be  put  into  immediate  operation,  and  which  will  have 
great  efficiency  to  remedy  the  evils. 

Among  these,  the  suggestion  has  occurred  to  me,  that  an  Inspect 
or  of  Public  Works  can  be  created  by  law,  who  shall  be  invested 
with  full  powers  of  investigation,  and  shall  report  to  the  Governor 
and  Legislature  ;  and  who  shall  derive  his  appointment  from  a  source 
completely  independent  of  the  canal  officers. 

Another  expedient  worthy  of  your  consideration  is  to  enforce  the 
accountability  of  the  officers  charged  with  the  disbursement  of  the 
public  money,  by  a  liability  to  summary  removal  or  suspension. 

The  constitution  (Art.  X.,  section  7)  commands : 

"  Provision  shall  be  made  by  law  for  the  removal  for  misconduct 
or  malversation  in  office  of  all  officers  (except  judicial)  whose  powers 
and  duties  are  not  local  or  legislative,  and  who  shall  be  elected  at 
general  elections,  and  also  for  supplying  vacancies  created  by  such 
removal." 

At  the  close  of  the  session  of  the  convention  of  1846,  on  the  day 
before  its  final  adjournment,  it  was  discovered  that,  except  in  the 
case  of  the  Treasurer,  no  provision  had  been  made  for  the  removal 
of  State  officers  having  charge  of  public  funds,  who  had  been  made 
elective  by  the  people  of  the  whole  State.  The  convention,  not 
undertaking  at  so  late  a  period  to  devise  a  system,  devolved  that  duty 
on  the  Legislature.  This  power  has  remained  twenty-nine  years 
unexecuted. 

It  is  a  duty  of  the  Legislature  which  ought  no  longer  to  remain 
unperformed.  Applied  to  the  Canal  Commissioners,  who  are  agents 
not  only  in  the  application,  but  in  the  custody  and  disbursement  of 
the  public  moneys,  and  to  the  State  Engineer,  who,  with  his  subor 
dinates,  exercises  great  power  over  the  expenditure  by  his  estimate 
of  the  cost  and  certificates  of  the  performance  of  work,  it  would  be 
an  improvement  upon  our  administrative  system,  in  accord  with  the 
intention  of  the  constitution,  with  sound  principles  of  government, 
and  with  the  indications  of  experience. 

Provision  ought  also  to  be  made  by  law  for  regulating  the  for 
mation  of  the  annual  estimate  for  future  expenditures.  It  ought  not 
only  to  be  the  result  of  consultation  between  the  Canal  Commission 
ers,  but  should  have  the  written  approval  of  the  State  Engineer  as  to 


THE   "CANAL  RING"   AND   ITS   OVERTHROW.          199 

the  necessity  and  cost  of  the  work  ;  and  of  the  Comptroller  as  to  its 
propriety,  considered  in  connection  with  the  financial  administration. 
It  would  doubtless  be  a  valuable  improvement  to  create  a  pay 
master,  appointed  by  the  Commissioners  of  the  Canal  Fund,  who 
should  be  accountable  to  the  Auditor,  and  should  make  all  payments 
on  the  certificates  of  the  Canal  Commissioners  and  State  Engineer. 
With  these  provisions  the  control  of  the  State  Engineer  over  his 
subordinates  might  properly  be  enlarged. 

OTHER  MATTEES  TO  BE  LOOKED  INTO. 

I  have  deemed  it  my  duty  to  look  beyond  the  abuses  practised  in 
the  letting  of  contracts,  and  to  see  if  the  materials  have  been  de 
livered,  and  the  work  has  been  done,  for  which  so  many  millions 
have  been  paid  out  by  the  State,  and  also  to  Team  if  the  locks,  walls, 
and  other  structures  have  been  built  in  a  faithful  way,  and  in  com 
pliance  with  the  contracts.  I  am  satisfied,  from  information  I  have 
already  gained,  that  there  should  be  an  investigation  of  these  subjects. 
It  is  my  purpose,  with  the  aid  of  the  members  of  the  Canal  Board,  to 
have  an  examination  made  of  our  public  works,  and  to  learn  their 
condition.  It  may  be  too  late  to  detect  all  frauds,  but  many  may  be 
exposed  and  punished,  and  a  check  put  upon  practices  so  destructive 
to  morals,  as  well  as  to  the  public  interests  of  the  people  of  the  State. 

CONCLUSION. 

It  is  clear  that  under  the  present  system  of  canal  management  the 
people  will  not  be  relieved  from  taxation,  the  boatmen  from  high 
tolls,  or  the  needed  improvements  of  the  Erie  and  Champlain  Canals 
be  finished.  It  is  in  our  power  to  gain  these  great  objects  by  a 
wise  and  honest  policy  of  retrenchment,  reform,  and  official  respon 
sibility.  Unfortunately,  the  abuses  now  practised  against  our  canals 
and  their  commerce  are  exciting  strong  prejudices  against  these 
great  public  works  rather  than  against  the  wrong-doers  and  the 
wrong-doing  which  tend  to  destroy  them. 

Our  duty  is  clear.  Let  us  cut  off  the  expenses  which  divert  reve 
nues  from  general  improvement  of  the  canals  to  local  or  individual 
purposes,  make  every  official,  every  employe,  every  contractor  feel 
that  the  laws  you  have  just  passed  against  fraud  will  be  enforced, 
and  our  canals  will  be  finished,  their  commerce  revived,  and  taxation 
will  be  lessened  not  only  as  it  oppresses  the  boatmen,  but  also  all 
other  classes  of  our  citizens. 


£00  THE   LIFE   OF   SAMUEL   J.  TILDEN. 

There  is  no  real  antagonism  between  the  boatmen  and  forwarders 
who  seek  a  fair  compensation  for  their  services,  the  public  who  desire 
cheap  transportation,  and  the  people  who  justly  claim  some  relief 
from  the  present  intolerable  pressure  of  taxation.  Their  interests 
are  joint.  Whenever  these  classes  are  brought  into  a  false  position 
of  apparent  hostility,  it  is  sure  proof  either  of  a  bad  state  of  laws,  or 
of  an  unfaithful  performance  of  official  duties.  Whoever,  for  illicit 
gain,  despoils  or  wastes  the  resources  applicable  to  these  objects,  is 
the  common  enemy  of  the  boatmen  and  the  tax-payers,  who  must 
unite  to  enforce  measures  of  reform  and  redress. 

SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

The  effect  of  thi$  message  cannot  be  described.  A  thou 
sand  times  the  people  of  New  York  had  been  told  that  they 
were  paying  tribute  to  the  "  Canal  Ring."  But  never  before 
was  the  matter  put  in  so  plain  a  light  that,  at  a  moment's 
glance,  they  could  see  the  operation  of  the  game  by  which 
they  were  swindled.  The  message  was  listened  to  with  an 
attention  not  often  paid  to  public  documents.  Then  the 
implicated  members  rushed  out  to  telegraph  to  their  impli 
cated  friends  that  "  lightning  had  struck."  Within  a  won 
derfully  short  space  of  time  nearly  every  member  of  the 
"  Canal  Ring  "  and  all  counselors  and  advisers  were  gathered 
in  Albany.  The  first  point  th'at  they  attempted  to  put  for 
ward  in  their  own  defense  was  that  the  message  contained 
nothing  new.  What  it  contained,  of  course,  was  not  new 
to  them.  It  was  a  simple  recital  of  their  methods  of  doing 
business.  But  it  struck  the  people  -of  the  State  as  a  star 
tling  exposure.  Their  next  point  was  that  the  Governor,  in 
making  his  attack,  had  been  controlled  by  personal  ambition 
— by  a  desire  to  'distinguish  himself  above  all  his  predeces* 
sors.  But  this  point  was  impertinent  to  the  question  at 
issue,  which  was  whether  or  not  the  frauds  had  been  com 
mitted  in  the  manner  described. 

The  tide  of  public  opinion  never  rose  higher  than  on  the 
appearance  of  the  message.  It  was  simply  irresistible.  The 
newspapers,  which  were  in  the  habit  of  abusing  the  Governor 


THE   "CANAL  RING"  AND   ITS   OVERTHROW.  201 

for  everything  that  he  did,  could  not  withstand  the  pressure, 
for  the  time  being,  but  turned  in  and  praised  him.  The 
Legislature,  which  contained  its  full  quota  of  jobbers  from 
the  ranks  of  both  parties,  acceded  to  the  Governor's  request, 
and  authorized  him  to  appoint  the  commission  which  he  had 
recommended.  He  named  as  members  of  this  commission 
John  Bigelow,  our  former  minister  to  France  ;  Daniel  Ma- 
gone,  Jr.,  a  practising  lawyer  from  St.  Lawrence  County  ; 
Alexander  E.  Orr,  a  Brooklyn  merchant  ;  and  John  D.  Van 
Buren,  Jr.,  a  civil  engineer  who  had  been  an  instructor  at 
the  United  States  Naval  Academy  at  Annapolis.  The  com 
mission  as  constituted  was  non-partisan.  Messrs.  Bigelow 
and  Orr  had  acted  with  the  Republican  party  from  the  date 
of  its  organization,  while  Messrs.  Magone  and  Van  Buren 
were  Democrats.  The  commission  sat  through  the  summer 
and  fall  of  1875,  and  put  forth  a  series  of  reports  in  which 
the  more  flagrant  of  the  fraudulent  contracts  were  thoroughly 
examined.  The  amount  of  work  actually  done  was  duly  cred 
ited,  and  the  stealings  were  specified. 

In  August,  1875,  Governor  Tilden  paid  a  visit  to  Lieu- 
tenant-Governor  Dorsheimer,  at  the  home  of  the  latter,  in 
Buffalo.  While  there  the  Governor  was  made  the  recipient 
of  many  marks  of  favor  at  the  hands  of  the  people.  He  was 
invited  to  deliver  an  address  before  the  Buffalo  Board  of 
Trade,  and  accepted  the  invitation.  The  members,  regard 
less  of  political  affiliations,  welcomed  him  most  heartily,  and 
listened  with  every  sign  of  approval  to  the  following  speech  : 

SPEECH  OF  GOVERNOR    TILDEN  BEFORE   THE  BUFFALO 
BOARD    OF   TRADE,  August  10,  1875. 

ME.  HIBBAED,  ME.  PRESIDENT,  AND  GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  BOAED 
OF  TEADE  :  I  recognize  in  you,  not  the  members  of  an  important 
commercial  body,  not  the  business-men  of  the  noble  city  of  Buffalo, 
but  the  representatives  of  that  great  system  of  intercommunication 
by  which  the  products  of  the  fertile  and  distant  West  and  the  popu 
lous  East  are  exchanged— the  common  agents  of  those  great  com- 


202  THE   LIFE   OF  SAMUEL   J.  TILDEN. 

inanities  which  occupy  the  northern  section  of  our  continent.  The 
expense  of  conveying  food  to  the  consumer  is  often  greater  than  the 
original  cost  of  raising  it.  Whatever,  therefore,  cheapens  trans 
portation,  adds  to  the  productiveness  of  human  lahor  as  much  as  in 
creased  fertility  of  the  soil  or  increased  geniality  of  the  climate. 
Standing  here  in  Buffalo,  and  turning  the  eye  into  the  far  West,  wo 
behold  a  series  of  lakes,  forming  the  finest  inland  navigation  that 
ministers  to  the  wants  of  man ;  which,  if  stretched  out  in  a  line? 
would  extend  more  than  half  the  voyage  from  New  York  to  Liver 
pool.  On  the  East,  hy  the  Erie  Canal  and  the  placid  waters  of  the 
Hudson,  the  system  is  extended  five  hundred  miles  to  the  harbor  of 
New  York.  On  the  West,  it  is  connected  by  a  complicated  system 
of  railways,  with  every  minute  part  of  that  most  magnificent  area 
of  virgin  soils,  which  have  been  the  theatre  of  the  arts  and  indus 
tries  of  civilized  life ;  a  region  in  which  Nature  has  poured  out  her 
blessings  with  boundless  prodigality,  and  which  is  destined  to  be 
the  seat  of  many  millions  of  prosperous  and  happy  people.  Taken 
together,  this  system  is  as  long  in  its  whole  extent  as  the  track 
across  the  ocean — the  ocean  from  the  Old  World  to  the  New.  Con 
sider,  my  fellow-citizens,  on  what  a  grand  scale  the  interests  and 
business  of  our  country  are  organized.  Shall  we  protect  the  Erie 
Canal,  which  forms  one  of  the  most  important  lines  of  this  system, 
from  spoliation?  That  is  the  question  for  the  business-men  of 
Buffalo  to  consider.  [Applause.]  You  came  down  to  Albany  last 
winter  and  asked  for  a  reduction  of  tolls.  Ever  anxious  to  cheapen 
the  cost  of  transportation  and  transit,  when  I  came  to  look  into  the 
question,  with  a  desire  to  carry  out  your  wishes,  I  found  you  were 
confronted  by  a  body  more  numerous  and  more  powerful  than 
yourselves — the  tax- payers  of  the  rural  districts  of  this  State,  not 
immediately  benefited  by  the  canals,  in  respect  to  whom  the  bur 
dens  of  taxation  had  become  nearly  unendurable,  and  were  bearing 
with  more  oppressive  severity  every  day.  I  ventured,  therefore, 
gentlemen,  in  my  special  message  of  March  18th,  to  suggest  a  plan 
which  I  thought  would  harmonize  the  various  interests  at  stake. 
I  found  there  were  abuses  and  maladministration,  frauds  and  pecu 
lation,  which  not  only  consumed  the  entire  surplus  revenues  of  the 
Erie  Canal,  but  burdened  our  tax-payers  with  more  than  two  millions 
a  year,  levied  by  taxes,  under  pretense  of  improving  the  public 
works.  I  proposed,  therefore,  that  we  should,  on  the  one  hand,  re 
duce  the  tolls  to  the  extent  of  five  or  six  hundred  thousand  dollars, 


THE   "CANAL  RING"  AND  ITS  OVERTHROW.  203 

and  on  the  other  remit  a  million  and  three-quarters  of  taxes.  Six 
months  have  elapsed,  and  the  fruits  of  that  controversy  have  secured 
you  the  reduction  of  the  tolls  you  asked  for,  and  remitted  to  the 
tax-payers  two  and  three-quarter  millions  of  the  burdens  imposed  on 
them  last  year. 

I  propose  to  you  to-day,  gentlemen,  that  we  should  continue  this 
policy.  [Applause.]  If  the  people  of  this  State  will  send  to  the 
next  session  of  the  legislative  bodies  representatives  who  will  hon 
estly  cooperate  in  this  great  work,  I  here  to-day  promise  them  and 
promise  you  that  whereas  we  reduced  the  taxes  last  year  from  seven 
and  one  quarter  to  six  mills,  next  year  we  will  put  them  down  to  four 
and  a  half  and  even  four  mills.  Afterward  they  can  be  reduced  still 
lower.  You  commercial  men  of  Buffalo  have  not  only  the  common 
interest  which  every  tax-payer  has,  but  the  special  advantage  of  fur 
ther  enfranchising  trade,  and  improving  the  means  by  which  it  is 
carried  on.  We  will  save  a  fund  large  enough  to  answer  every  object 
of  this  description,  and  go  forward  and  make  this  great  and  noble 
State  and  its  institutions  all  that  it  has  a  right  and  is  destined  by 
Providence  to  become,  [Applause.]  I  know,  gentlemen,  that  at 
tempts  have  been  made  to  discourage  the  people  in  this  great  work. 
We  have  been  told  that  nothing  has  been  accomplished  ;  that  nothing 
can  be,  and  that  the  people  are  to  remain  bound  with  withes,  to  be 
the  prey  of  those  who  consume  the  fruits  of  taxation.  In  answer  I 
point  to  the  practical  results  of  six  months  of  reform.  What  are 
they? 

First,  we  have  wounded  and  crushed  a  system  of  abuse,  malad 
ministration,  fraud,  and  peculation,  that  has  fattened  upon  the  public 
works,  the  transporter,  the  consumer,  and  the  tax-payer.  [Ap 
plause.]  And  if  the  people  of  this  State  are  true  to  themselves,  that 
system,  once  broken,  will  never  be  revived.  In  the  second  place, 
there  has  been  enacted  a  series  of  laws  to  bring  to  account  the  public 
agents  and  official  persons,  and  punish  their  malversations,  the  effi 
cacy  of  which,  if  faithfully  administered  by  the  courts,  will  soon  be 
seen.  In  the  third  place,  we  have  reduced  the  tolls  and  remitted 
the  taxes  to  the  large  extent  I  have  mentioned.  In  the  fourth  place, 
measures  have  been  instituted  to  hold  to  account  the  public  plun 
derers.  These  measures  have  been  taken  as  early  and  as  rapidly  as 
possible,  and  are  going  on  to  consummation.  I  am  glad,  myself,  to 
be  reproached  for  being  too  slow.  I  have  been  as  fast  as  I  could, 
and  have  given  all  my  time  to  your  service ;  but  I  rejoice  to  be 


THE  LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

reproached  for  being  too  slow,  because  it  indicates  to  me  that  the 
people  are  impatient  to  consummate  the  great  reform.     [Applause.] 

Fifth,  and  lastly,  gentlemen,  there  is  something  higher,  more  im 
portant,  more  noble,  more  deeply  concerning  human  society  than 
even  these  material  advantages.  We  have  lifted  the  standard  of 
public  and  official  morality  in  the  country;  we  have  awakened  a 
sense  of  justice  and  duty  in  the  people,  and  'are  rousing  public  opinion 
to  demand  better  government  and  purer  administration  everywhere. 
[Applause.]  Gentlemen,  the  cause  will  not  fail.  In  the  last  session 
it  was  often  betrayed,  sometimes  defeated,  and  generally  obstructed, 
but  it  will  go  on  to  a  complete  triumph,  which  will  be  a  blessing  to 
the  whole  of  these  five  millions  of  people  who  live  within  the  juris 
diction  of  this  State.  [Applause.]  Whoever  shall  dare  to  obstruct 
or  oppose  it,  or  stand  in  its  way,  will  fall,  not  to  rise  again.  I  know 
there  are  men  of  selfish  interests  who  have  not  yet  learned  that  the 
old  age  has  gone  out,  and  the  new  age  has  come  in.  [Applause.] 
There  are  public  men  seeking  popular  favor  who  still  think  that  the 
way  to  success  and  honor  is  to  combine  selfish  interest — to  pile  "  Canal 
Ring  "  upon  "  Tweed  Ring,"  and  so  rule  the  people  of  this  free  State. 
According  to  the  measure  of  my  ability,  I  humbly  represent  the  com 
mon-sense  of  the  people  of  this  State — the  farmers,  the  mechanics,  the 
laborers,  the  men  of  business — the  moral  sense  and  purpose  of  the 
community  against  its  selfish  and  fraudulent  interests.  Now,  men  of 
Buffalo,  I  ask  you  to-day  to  consider  what  is  to  be  your  part  in  this 
work.  While  about  your  various  callings  and  industries,  you  leave 
the  government  to  take  care  of  itself,  and  men  who  mean  to  make 
money  by  .plundering  you  give  their  nights  and  days  to  study  out  the 
methods ;  they  are  always  at  conventions  and  caucuses ;  they  go  to 
the  Legislature,  and,  while  you  are  reposing  in  fancied  safety,  are 
plotting  against  your  interest  and  rights.  If  you  will  permit  me  to 
offer  a  suggestion — I  do  not  assume  to  advise — I  only  say  that  when 
bad  men  combine,  good  men  should  unite.  [Applause.]  And  if  you  will 
be  as  earnest,  and  determined  and  persistent,  in  demanding  that  the 
right  shall  be  done,  politicians  will  court  your  favor,  and  not  the  favor 
of  the  "  Canal  Ring,"  or  any  other  "Ring."  What  concern  have  you 
by  what  name  a  man  is  called  who  goes  to  Albany  to  misrepresent  your 
interests  and  duties  ?  Is  it  any  satisfaction  to  a  Republican  that  that 
man  is  called  a  Republican,  or  to  a  Democrat  that  he  is  called  a  Demo 
crat?  Does  it  make  any  difference  what  livery  he  wears  to  serve 
the  devil  in?  [Laughter  and  applause.]  I  say  you  have  but  to  assert 


THE   "CANAL   RING"   AND  ITS  OVERTHROW.  205 

your  rights  and  they  will  be  respected ;  and  when  the  parties  to  which 
you  belong  come  to  make  their  nominations,  if  there  be  on  the  tickets 
any  one  not  true  to  you,  you  have  but  to  exercise  the  reserved  rights 
of  the  American  citizen,  to  vote  for  somebody  else.  [Cheers.] 

Gentlemen,  I  avail  myself  of  this  occasion  to  thank  the  Board  of 
Trade  for  their  kind  invitation,  and  the  citizens  of  Buffalo  generally 
for  the  prodigal  hospitalities  that  have  been  bestowed  on  me  during 
the  two  days  I  have  been  visiting  my  friend  Lieutenant-Governor 
Dorsheimer  (cheers),  who  is  about  to  take  up  his  temporary  residence 
in  Albany.  I  thank  you  for  your  kindness  to  me,  which  I  ascribe 
not  so  much  to  myself  personally  as  to  the  cause  which  I  serve. 

The  next  day  Governor  Tilden  left  Buffalo,  and  it  was  an 
nounced  that  he  would  spend  the  night  at  Syracuse.  It  was 
a  bold  movement  thus  to  seek  the  headquarters  of  the  "  Canal 
Ring."  It  was  not  exactly  "  bearding  the  lion  in  his  den,"  but 
might  be  likened  rather  to  hunting  the  vultures  in  their  nest. 
The  general  belief  was  expressed  that  Mr.  Tilden  would  meet 
with  a  cold  reception  at  the  home  of  Denison  and  Belden. 
But  those  who  indulged  in  such  forebodings  were  doomed  to 
disappointment.  Such  a  crowd  as  gathered  in  the  evening  to 
welcome  him  was  never  before  seen  in  Syracuse.  The  square 
in  front  of  the  hotel  in  ^hich  he  staid  was  literally  packed 
with  people.  The  neighboring  piles  of  lumber,  the  canal- 
bridges,  the  roofs  of  the  houses,  all  places  within  and  beyond 
the  sound  of  his  voice,  wer.e  filled  with  those  who  sought  to 
hear  the  words  of  the  man  who  had  broken  tie  power  of 
a  combination  which  they  had  learned  to  look  upon  as  invinci 
ble.  He  came  forward  on  the  upper  balcony  of  the  hotel,  in 
response  to  the  calls  of  the  multitude,  and  made  the  speech 
which  is  appended: 

SPEECH  OF  GOVERNOR   TILDEN  AT  SYRACUSE, 
August  11,  1875. 

CITIZENS  OF  SYEACUSE  AND  THE  COUNTY  OF  ONONDAGA  :  If  I  had 
anticipated  that  I  should  be  called  upon  to-night  to  speak  to  such  a 
vast  assemblage  of  people  as  I  see  before  me,  I  should  have  been  more 
economical  of  conversation  on  the  cars.  I  am  glad,  however,  to 


206  THE   LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

meet  you.  I  am  glad  to  see  that  the  question  of  reform  in  the  ad 
ministration  of  public  affairs  in  this  State  is  awakening  a  deep  inter 
est  in  the  minds  of  the  people.  [Applause.] 

It  is  not  necessary  for  me  to  draw  your  attention  in  detail  to  the 
particular  abuses  in  regard  to  the  canals  of  this  State.  You  have 
become,  alas!  too  familiar  with  the  situation.  Here,  under  your  own 
eyes,  and  your  own  observation,  these  transactions  have  been  carried 
on  in  open  day  by  a  combination  that  have  sought  to  rule  the  State. 
I  am  sure,  by  your  coming  here  to-night,  that  you  are  determined 
there  shall  be  thorough  and  effectual  reform  in  these  matters.  Fel 
low-citizens,  so  far  as  depends  upon  me,  your  first  official  representa 
tive,  I  wish  to  say  to  you  that  nothing  shall  be  withheld.  [A  voice, 
u  Good  !  "]  Your  cause  will  be  carried  forward  and  onward,  all  the 
force  of  the  law  will  be  exercised  to  procure  for  you  your  rights,  and 
to  punish  those  who  have  violated  them. 

I  was  called  on  this  morning  to  speak  some  words  of  encourage 
ment  and  hope  to  four  hundred  little  boys  in  the  Western  House  of 
Eefuge.  During  all  my  journey  I  have  been  frequently  followed  by 
persons,  asking  for  their  friends  and  for  those  in  whom  they  were  in 
terested  a  pardon  from  the  penitentiaries  and  State-prisons.  I  have 
been  compelled  to  look  into  such  cases  and  see  who  are  the  inmates 
of  these  institutions,  and  of  what  they  have  been  accused,  to  see 
what  it  is  that  constitutes  the  wrongs  to  society  of  which  they  have 
been  convicted.  When  I  have  compared  their  offenses,  in  their  na 
ture,  temptations,  and  circumstances,  with  the  crimes  of  great  public 
delinquents  who  claim  to  stand  among  your  best  society,  and  are 
confessedly  prominent  among  their  fellow-citizens,  crimes  repeated 
and  continued  year  after  year,  I  am  appalled  at  the  inequality  of  hu 
man  justice.  [Great  applause.]  The  effort  to  give  you  redress  has 
been,  for  the  last  three  months,  derided  and  scoffed  at.  We  have 
been  told  that  nothing  would  come  of  it ;  that  the  people  would  fail ; 
that  their  rights  would  not  be  maintained,  and  particularly  that  these 
great,  rich,  and  powerful  culprits  would  prevail ;  would  escape  the 
meshes  of  the  law  and  the  punishment  of  their  crimes ;  that  their 
palaces,  built  with  the  moneys  drawn  from  the  sweat  and  toil  of  our 
honest,  industrious,  hard-working  citizens,  would  continue  to  rise 
like  exhalations  and  shame  public  morality  and  public  honor. 

Fellow-citizens,  I  say  to  you  to-night  as  I  said  on  the  4th  of  No 
vember,  1871,  now  nearly  four  years  ago — when  I  took  a  share  in 
the  great  contest  in  New  York  City — in  your  cause  I  will  "  follow 


THE   "CANAL  RING"   AND  ITS   OVERTHROW.  207 

where  any  shall  dare  to  lead,  or  lead  where  any  shall  dare  to  fol 
low  !  "  [Tremendous  applause.]  The  cause  will  not  fail.  Whoever 
shall  venture  to  stand  against  it  will  fall  to  rise  no  more.  I  have  no 
apprehensions  that  the  law  will  fail  of  its  efficacy.  But  I  will  speak 
a  word  of  encouragement  to  those  who  are  less  hopeful.  You  can 
send,  if  needful,  to  the  legislative  bodies  men  who  will  make  new 
.  and  better  laws  to  punish  these  wrongs  and  to  bring  the  wrong-doers 
to  justice,  and  the  people,  by  the  exercise  of  their  sovereign  authority, 
may,  if  need  be,  in  convention  assembled,  redress  all  defects  and 
failures  of  public  justice.  If  our  legislative  bodies  and  public  officers 
fall  short  of  their  duty,  the  people  can  recall  the  powers  they  have 
delegated — can  renovate  the  administration  of  justice — until  those 
eyes  represented  in  Roman  statuary  as  blind,  will  be  made  to  see  sub 
stantial  right  and  genuine  law.  [Great  cheering.] 

Fellow-citizens,  I  know  you  do  not  expect  me  to  address  this  vast 
audience  beyond  a  reasonable  exercise  of  my  voice.  I  will  then  refer 
you  to  what  I  have  said  on  a  late  occasion  before  the  Buffalo  Board 
of  Trade,  and  every  word  said  there  I  repeat  to  you  to-night.  I 
assure  you  that,  so  far  as  the  administration  of  the  law  is  concerned, 
nothing  shall  be  spared  to  protect  and  enforce  your  rights  with  im 
partial  justice.  I  say  this  in  no  spirit  of  vengeance — "  With  malice 
toward  none,  with  charity  for  all"  —  but  with  a  firm  devotion  to 
the  rights  and  interests  of  the  people,  the  work  of  reform  shall 
and  must  go  forward.  [Cheers.] 

Thanking  you  for  your  kind  attention  and  the  distinguished 
honor  of  addressing  on  such  a  topic  so  vast  an  assemblage  of  all 
parties  and  classes,  I  bid  you  good-night. 

Nobody  doubted  to  whom  he  referred  when  he  said,  "  I 
am  appalled  at  the  inequality  of  human  justice."  The  ap 
plause  which  greeted  the  sentiment  conveyed  a  warning  to 
the  members  of  the  "  Ring  "  which  they  were  not  slow  to  heed. 
A  lawyer,  representing  one  of  their  leaders,  called  on  the 
Governor  the  next  morning  to  inquire  on  what  terms  his 
clients  could  settle  with  the  State.  He  received  no  encour 
agement  for  a  settlement  which  did  not  cover  the  absolute 
surrender  of  moneys  fraudulently  obtained. 

The  Governor  proceeded  to  Utica  on  the  afternoon  of  the 
llth,  and  became  the  guest  of  Senator  Francis  Kernan,  who 


208  THE  LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

has  been  and  is  one  of  his  ablest  public  supporters  and  warm 
est  personal  friends.  Here  also  he  met  with  an  enthusiastic 
reception  and  delivered  an  acceptable-  address.  But  later  in 
the  season  he  gave  in  Utica  a  more  elaborate  address,  which 
is  herewith  presented : 

SPEECH  OF  GOVERNOR  TILDEN  AT  THE  CENTRAL  NEW 
YORK  FAIR,  September  30,  1875. 

NEW   YOEK   AQEICULTUEE. 

ME.  PEOCTOE,  GENTLEMEN  or  THE  FAIE,  AND  CITIZENS  OF  OENTEAL 
NEW  YOEK  :  I  felicitate  myself  that  I  have  to-day  an  opportunity  to 
witness  the  magnificent  display  of  your  industries,  and,  what  is  more 
magnificent,  this  mass  of  farmers  and  citizens.  New  York  is  fore 
most  of  all  the  States  of  the  American  Union  in  its  agriculture.  It 
embraces  the  largest  number  of  farmers.  It  has  more  invested  in 
the  value  of  its  farms  and  agricultural  implements,  and  every  year 
yields  a  larger  product  of  its  agricultural  industry,  than  any  of  the 
American  Commonwealths.  True  it  is  that  New  York  is  transcendent 
in  commerce.  It  exceeds  in  manufacturing  and  mechanical  industries 
all  of  the  States  of  the  American  Union.  But  with  these  great 
achievements  in  the  industrial  arts  it  still  maintains  its  front  rank  in 
agriculture. 

THE  GOVEENOE'S  AGEICULTUEAL  LINEAGE. 

Fellow-citizens,  farmers  of  Central  New  York — I  know  that  in 
addressing  you  I  have  to  encounter  a  dangerous  rivalry.  Here  among 
you  is  the  illustrious  dairyman  of  Deerfield,  farmer  Horatio  Seymour 
— [applause  and  laughter] — and  I  have  to  compete  with  the  ornate 
oratory  of  Roscoe  Conkling,  and  with  the  fervid  eloquence  of  Francis 
Kernan,  two  famous  husbandmen  of  Utica — [applause] — but  I  venture 
to  assert  some  claim  to  an  audience  among  the  farmers  of  this  county 
and  this  part  of  the  State.  At  any  rate,  if  I  have  not  done  much  in 
my  own  day  and  generation  in  agriculture,  at  least  I  can  claim  a  long 
line  of  ancestors  devoted  to  the  tillage  of  the  soil.  [Applause.]  Two 
hundred  and  forty  years  ago  the  ancestor  whose  name  I  bear  came  to 
this  country.  At  that  time  a  man  was  not  allowed  to  emigrate  unless 
he  was  certified  to  by  the  public  authorities,  and  they  certified  my 
ancestor  as  a  yeoman  of  Saxon  and  Kentish  England,  which  had  pre 
served  its  free  customs  and  immemorial  liberties  during  all  the  con 
vulsions  of  the  feudal  ages.  I  therefore  assert  my  patent  of  nobility 


THE  "CANAL   RING"  AND   ITS   OVERTHROW.  209 

in  the  descent  from  a  yeoman  in  whose  race  for  many  centuries  there 
had  never  been  any  submission  to  arbitrary  power.     [Applause.] 

Fellow-citizens,  as  I  grew  up  I  lived  among  farmers,  not  in  a  city 
like  this  of  Utica,  not  in  a  village,  but  in  a  hamlet,  where  almost 
every  man  I  met  was  a  tiller  of  the  soil.  I  believe  that  I  learned  to 
understand  their  temper,  their  character,  and  their  interests  ;  and 
ever  since  through  life  I  have  been  mindful  of  them  in  the  humble 
part  I  have  taken  in  the  conduct  of  public  affairs.  And  I  consider 
myself  invited  to-day,  by  the  remarks  made  by  the  president  of  your 
society,  to  say  to  you  a  few  words  in  regard  to  the  interest  of  the 
farmers  of  the  State  of  New  York  in  the  present  condition  of  our  pub 
lic  affairs.  I  have  no  word  of  a  partisan  character  to  utter.  I  have 
nothing  to  say  to  you  ^hat  an  American  citizen  should  not  say  to  every 
other  American  citizen,  of  whatever  political  party  or  whatever  po 
litical  opinions. 

FARMERS    AND    TAXES. 

My  proposition,  then,  gentlemen,  is  that  the  farmer,  more  perhaps 
than  any  other  class,  is  interested  in  the  question  of  taxation,  which 
has  been  adverted  to  by  the  president  of  your  association.  The  gains 
of  the  farmer  come  slowly  and  with  difficulty.  No  fortunate  specu 
lations,  no  turn  of  the  markets,  no  exercise  of  his  wits,  fill  his  little 
treasury.  It  is  toil — honest,  patient,  industrious  toil — -to  which  alone 
he  can  look  for  his  scanty  surplus,  which  at  the  end  of  the  year  ena 
bles  him  to  fill  his  little  store,  and  to  meet  the  constantly-recurring 
demands  of  the  tax-gatherer.  I  say,  therefore,  that  he  more  than  any 
other  citizen  of  our  community  is  interested  in  this  question.  Now,  my 
fellow- citizens,  what  are  the  facts  in  respect  to  this  matter  ?  Our  fore 
fathers  fought  that  they  might  establish  on  this  continent  an  associa 
tion  of  equal  American  citizens,  who  should  be  able  to  conduct  their 
public  affairs  by  a  simple  government,  attending  to  a  few  common 
objects,  maintaining  justice,  protecting  the  citizen,  and  leaving  the 
mass  of  his  earnings  in  his  pocket,  to  be  disbursed  according  to  his 
taste  or  desire.  They  fled  to  this  country  from  the  oppression  and 
the  burden  of  European  government,  and  established  a  free  common 
wealth  of  American  citizens,  in  the  hope  that  through  all  the  future 
their  institutions  might  be  preserved  at  small  cost,  with  justice  to  all, 
with  frugality  of  administration.  Now,  my  fellow-citizens,  if  you 
will  look  at  the  census  of  1870  you  will  find  that  the  taxes  of  that 
year  were  fivefold  what  they  were  in  1860.  It  was  five  years  after 
the  close  of  the  war,  and  yet  the  taxes  were  not  only  not  reduced  to 


210  THE  LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

their  former  amount,  not  to  once  and  a  half,  not  to  twice,  not  to  three, 
not  to  four  times,  but  they  remained  five  times  their  former  amount, 
and  to-day  they  are  very  little  reduced.  I  will  not  undertake  to  say 
here  whose  fault  this  is ;  I  suppose  in  some  degree  it  is  everybody's 
fault.  It  will  be  your  own  fault  if  you  don't  correct  it.  [Applause.] 

A   FEW    STARTLING   FIGURES. 

Fellow-citizens,  I  had  occasion  at  the  beginning  of  the  legislative 
session  last  winter  to  state  to  the  legislative  bodies  and  to  the  people 
that  the  taxes  in  the  United  States  for  the  ten  years  following  the  war 
had  been  $7,000,000,000,  700,000,000  a  year  on  the  average  for  each 
of  the  ten  years.  Now,  I  submit  to  you  whether  this  is  not  too  large  a 
proportion  of  all  you  can  earn  to  be  appropriated  to  such  purposes. 
Think  of  it.  Your  national  debt  is  but  the  amount  of  three  years'  tax 
ation.  Think  of  it !  You  have  built  in  the  last  forty  years  76,000 
miles  of  railroad.  The  nominal  amount  of  their  stocks  and  bonds 
might  be  something  near  $4,000,000,000,  and  in  actual  cost  about 
$2,500,000,000.  Fellow-citizens,  the  whole  of  this  vast  sum  expended 
for  these  purposes  is  less  than  three  and  a  half  years  of  taxes.  Try 
another  illustration.  You  are  very  proud  that  you  are  the  greatest 
gold  and  silver  producing  nation  of  the  world.  You  boast  that  on 
your  broad  areas  of  fertile  soil  you  raise  crops  to  send  abroad,  to  eke 
out  the  supply  necessary  to  feed  the  populations  of  the  Old  World. 
You  send  forward  your  grain,  gathered  from  every  part  of  the  Unit 
ed  States.  You  send  meat,  you  send  cheese,  you  send  other  products 
of  the  farm.  You  send  vast  quantities  of  petroleum,  and  then  you 
have  one-crop  the  most  of  which  is  exported,  the  largest  that  any 
nation  in  the  world  ever  contributes  to  the  exchanges  of  mankind. 
I  mean  the  cotton-crop,  which  yields  from  $200,000,000  to  $280,000,- 
000  a  year  to  foreign  exports. 

WHAT    A    BURDEN    TAXATION    IS. 

Now,  my  fellow-citizens,  what  is  the  result?  When  you  have 
sent  forward  your  gold  and  your  silver,  when  you  have  sent  forward 
your  petroleum,  when  yon  have  sent  forward  your  wheat,  and  your 
corn,  and  your  cheese,  and  your  meat,  and  your  products  of  every 
kind ;  when  you  have  sent  forward  your  cotton ;  when  you  have 
raked  and  scraped  this  continent  from  the  Lakes  to  the  Gulf,  from 
the  Atlantic  to  the  remote  interior,  what  have  you  done  ?  When 
you  have  gathered  together  all  these  products  and  paid  the  cost  of 


THE   "CANAL  KING"   AND  ITS  OVERTHROW.  211 

carrying  them  to  the  seaboard — a  cost  often  larger  than  the  original 
cost  of  raising  the  products — what  have  you  done  ?  Why,  with  every 
exportable  commodity  of  this  continent  arrived  at  our  Atlantic  ports 
and  delivered  into  the  vessels  of  foreigners,  you  have  paid  ten  months 
of  one  year's  taxes. 

INKOADS   OF   THE    TIMES   ON   CAPITAL. 

I  use  these  illustrations  to  present  in  as  clear  a  manner  as  possi 
ble  to  your  mind  the  burden  of  the  system  to  which  you  are  sub 
jected.  In  a  speech  which  I  made  seven  years  ago,  I  pointed  out 
this  condition  of  things,  and  I  said  that  while  you  could  pay  what 
you  do  pay  during  the  swelling  of  values,  out  of  the  froth  of  appar 
ent  and  illusory  wealth,  when  prices  should  come  to  settle  to  their 
ordinary  condition,  as  they  were  sure  to  do,  and  nothing  could  pre 
vent  .them  from  doing,  then  it  would  take  not  merely  your  earnings, 
it  would  take  not  merely  your  income,  but  it  would  trench  upon  your 
capital  itself  to  pay  such  taxation.  And  now,  gentlemen,  while  at 
that  time  it  was  difficult  to  get  an  audience,  or  find  ears  willing  to 
listen,  that  change  has  come.  It  is  upon  you.  No  human  contriv 
ance,  no  act  of  government,  can  prevent  the  reaction  that  has  grown 
out  of  a  fictitious  condition  of  values.  When  it  disappears  and  prices 
recede,  then  there  settles  around  you,  like  a  dark  cloud,  this  weight 
of  taxation,  which  you  should  have  foreseen  and  avoided  years  ago. 

WHAT   IS    TO    BE   DONE. 

Fellow-citizens,  I  appeal  to  you,  without  reference  to  your  party 
character  or  party  affiliations,  to  join,  each  man  for  himself,  in  the 
great  object  of  repressing  and  retrenching  these  evils.  If  you  are  a 
Republican,  see  to  it  that  no  Republican  goes  to  the  legislative  halls 
except  he  represents  you  faithfully  on  this  subject.  If  a  Democrat, 
see  that  no  man  goes  to  represent  you  in  the  legislative  bodies  who 
will  not  do  his  entire  duty  to  the  labor  and  industry  of  the  country 
in  this  respect.  You  have  but  to  will  it.  The  farmers,  though  they 
have  ceased  to  govern  the  State  of  New  York  as  completely  and  as 
exclusively  as  they  did  thirty  and  forty  years  ago,  when  they  formed 
two-thirds  at  least,  perhaps  three-fourths,  of  the  whole  mass  of  voters, 
to-day  exercise  such  a  vast  power  that  they  control  the  result,  if 
they  will  but  determine  to  do  it.  They  are  interested  in  a  peculiar 
degree  in  State  taxation.  In  the  city  of  New  York,  in  all  the  cities 
of  the  State,  the  heaviest  burden  of  taxation  is  from  the  municipal 


212  THE   LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

taxes.  But  among  the  farmers  in  the  rural  districts  the  State  taxes 
are  about  one-half,  and  the  town  and  county  taxes  the  other  half  of 
what  the  farmer  has  to  pay.  It  is  within  your  power  to  control  the 
town  taxes.  It  is  within  your  power  to  control  the  county  taxes. 
You  have  only  to  send  men  to  Albany  who  will  faithfully  represent 
you,  and  you  can  control  also  the  State  taxes. 

THE   WOEK   ALEEADY    BEGUN. 

We  began  last  winter.  It  made  great  conflict  and  turmoil,  of 
which  you  have  heard.  We  began  to  cleave  off  the  fungus-growth 
that  had  sprung  up  all  over  and  all  around  our  State  institutions,  and 
was  smothering  out  their  vitality.  We  have  reduced  already  your 
taxes  from  seven  and  a  quarter  to  six  mills  in  the  present  year,  and, 
if  you  will  send  next  winter  to  the  legislative  bodies  men  who  will 
join  in  this  object,  you  can  reduce  the  rate  of  taxation  to  four  mills. 

AN    APPEAL   FOE    ACTION. 

I  present  to  you  this  object  to-day.  I  invoke  the  attention  of  the 
farmer  to  this  interesting  subject.  I  call  upon  him  to  do  his  duty  to 
himself,  and  his  duty  to  all  other  citizens  of  this  great  Common 
wealth.  Fellow-citizens,  I  don't  propose  to  detain  you  to-day  by  a 
lengthened  address.  I  speak  to  you  in  plain  and  homely  language, 
directly,  as  man  to  man,  in  regard  to  your  practical  interests.  1  know 
perfectly  well,  understand  perfectly  well,  the  sentiments  and  inter 
ests,  and  the  characteristics  of  your  class.  I  lived  among  them  so 
long,  I  saw  them  so  intimately,  individually,  and  in  their  social  rela 
tions,  that  I  believe  I  have  little  to  learn  in  respect  to  them,  and  I 
commit  to  their  fidelity,  to  their  patriotism,'  to  their  devotion  to  the 
great  interests  of  the  country,  the  cause  which  I  to-day  advocate  be 
fore  yoti.  It  is  not  alone  the  saving  of  dollars  and  cents,  but  you 
cannot  preserve  your  system  of  government  unless  you  purify  ad 
ministration  and  purify  legislation.  The  evils  of  corrupt  government 
are  not  confined  to  the  money  that  is  taken  from  the  pockets  of  the 
people  to  enrich  those  who  are  not  entitled  to  its  enjoyment ;  but  the 
growth  of  such  a  system  saps  all  public  virtue  and  public  morality, 
and  at  last  governments  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  and  for  the 
people,  will  cease  to  exist,  as  other  republics  in  ancient  times  have 
perished,  from  the  general  demoralization  and  corruption  of  the  peo 
ple.  I  put  this  subject  to  you  to-day  in  simple  and  plain  language, 
and  I  leave  it  in  your  hands  in  undoubting  confidence  that,  so  far  as 


TEE    "CANAL  RING"   AND   ITS  OVERTHROW.  213 

you  can  depend  upon  the  great  agricultural  masses  of  Central  New 
York,  they  will  do  their  duty,  and  their  whole  duty,  to  themselves 
and  to  the  State. 

Bellow-citizens,  thanking  you  for  your  kind  and  patient  attention, 
and  promising  to  myself  an  opportunity  to  see  the  products  of  your 
farming  industries,  yet  to  be  exhibited  at  this  fair,  so  far  as  I  can  do 
so  by  devoting  the  rest  of  the  day  to  it,  I  bid  you  good-afternoon. 

The  effect  of  the  Governor's  journey  and  speeches  was 
noteworthy.  It  showed  such  a  feeling  in  favor  of  his  reform 
policy,  existing  throughout  the  State,  and  exhibiting  itself 
most  strongly  in  unexpected  quarters,  that  the  Republican 
leaders  became  frightened.  They  set  to  work  to  counteract 
his  influence.  The  newspapers  which  had  praised  him  in  the 
spring,  fell  to  criticising  him  with  more  vigor  than  ever. 
Several  leading  Republicans,  finding  what  excellent  work  the 
Canal  Investigating  Commission  had  done,  waited  on  Mr. 
Bigelow,  the  chairman  of  that  commission,  and  asked  him  to 
accept  a  place  on'  their  State  ticket.  He  courteously  but 
firmly  declined.  He  told  them  frankly  that  he  was  in  hearty 
sympathy  with  Governor  Tilden,  and  that  the  battle  of  re 
form,  if  it  was  won  at  all,  would  be  won  through  him,  after 
which  they  did  not  press  Mr.  Bigelow  so  strenuously  as  be 
fore. 

When  the  Democratic  State  Convention  assembled  at 
Syracuse  in  September,  1875,  it  was  the  opinion  of  the  ma 
jority  of  the  party  that  the  issue  of  administrative  reform 
should  be  made  so  clear  and  distinct  that  nobody  could  mis 
take  its  meaning.  With  great  unanimity,  Mr.  Bigelow,  who 
was  a  true  representative  of  the  independent  voter,  was  nom 
inated  for  Secretary  of  State — less,  however,  on  account  of 
his  independence  than  because  of  his  manly  and  masterly 
service  in  the  work  of  investigation.  Mr.  Van  Buren,  another 
member  of  the  commission,  was  named  for  State  Engineer. 
Mr.  Charles  J.  Fairchild,  who,  as  Deputy  Attorney-General, 
had  instituted  suits  against  the  "  Canal  Ring,"  was  nominated 
for  Attorney-General.  Mr.  Daniel  Magone,  Jr.,  of  the  com- 


£14  THE  LIFE  OF  SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

mission,  was  chosen  chairman  of  the  State  Committee.  The 
ticket  was  framed  not  less  in  the  interest  of  good  govern 
ment  than  in  a  spirit  of  bold  and  uncompromising  hostility  to 
the  "  Canal  Ring*."  It  encountered  all  the  opposition  it  sought, 
and  perhaps  more.  Every  member  of  the  "  Ring,"  and  every 
voter  that  each  member  could  control,  worked  openly  and  se 
cretly  to  compass  its  defeat.  That  was  to  be  expected.  But 
some  honest  Democrats  were  misled  by  dishonest  representa 
tives,  and  lost  their  interest  in  the  canvass — which  was  not  to 
be  expected.  The  Republicans,  finding  that  they  were  mak 
ing  some  headway,  worked  with  remarkable  vigor,  and, 
cheered  by  successes  in  other  States,  they  came  to  believe 
that  they  would  carry  New  York.  Nevertheless,  the  Demo 
cratic  State  ticket  was  elected  by  an  average  plurality  ap 
proximating  twenty  thousand.  The  Republicans,  however, 
increased  their  majority  in  the  Senate,  and  secured  control  of 
the  Assembly. 

When  the  Legislature  convened,  on  the  4th  of  January, 
1876,  it  showed  a  disposition  to  find  fault  with  all  the  Gov 
ernor  had  done  in  the  way  of  canal  reform.  The  Senate 
adopted  a  resolution  of  inquiry  which  is  quoted  in  the  fol 
lowing  curt  answer  from  the  Governor : 

STATE  OF  NEW  YORK,  EXECUTIVE  CHAMBER,  [ 

ALBANY,  January  18,  1876. 
To  the  Senate : 

In  answer  to  the  resolution  of  the  Senate  requesting  the  Governor 
"  at  the  earliest  possible  day,  consistent  with  the  public  service,  to 
communicate  to  the  Legislature  the  results  of  the  investigation  thus 
far  obtained  by  the  commission,  with  the  testimony  thereto  pertain 
ing,  and  the  titles  and  objects  of  the  actions  now  pending,  with  the 
progress  thereon  made,  and  the  names  of  the  official  charged  with 
complicity  or  connivance  as  aforesaid,  in  order  that  the  Legislature 
may,  in  view  of  the  information  thus  furnished,  determine  what  ap 
propriation,  if  any,  or  other  measures  of  legislation,  may  be  neces 
sary  "— 

I  have  the  honor  respectfully  to  state : 

1.  That  the  concurrent  resolution,  authorizing  the  Governor  to 


THE   "CANAL  RING"  AND   ITS  OVERTHROW.  215 

appoint  a  commission  to  investigate  canal  affairs,  passed  in  1875, 
requires  the  said  commission  to  report  the  testimony  they  shall  take, 
together  with  such  recommendations  in  respect  to  the  same  as  they 
shall  deem  warranted  by  the  facts,  to  the  Governor  and  to  the  Legis 
lature  at  the  opening  of  the  next  session. 

The  commission  have  made  a  series  of  reports  to  the  Governor, 
twelve  in  number,  on  special  cases,  and,  I  understand,  are  preparing 
with  all  diligence  a  general  report  to  the  Legislature  in  compliance 
with  the  concurrent  resolution,  which  will  embrace  "  all  the  results 
thus  far  obtained  by  the  commission." 

2.  The  several  reports  of  the  commission  to  the  Governor  have 
been,  from  time  to  time,  transmitted  to  the  office  of  the  Attorney- 
General  for  his  consideration  as  to  what  legal  remedies  in  behalf  of 
the  State  should  be  instituted.  The  conduct  of  such  action  is  de 
volved  by  law  upon  the  Attorney-General.  The  present  incumbent, 
as  the  Senate  is  doubtless  aware,  from  the  day  of  his  taking  office 
was  engaged  at  the  Oyer  and  Terminer  of  Erie  County  in  the  trial  of 
one  of  the  cases  arising  out  of  a  report  of  the  commission  until  a 
week  after  the  adoption  of  your  resolution.  For  particular  informa 
tion  on  the  subject  of  this  part  of  your  inquiry,  I  respectfully  refer 
you  to  that  officer. 

In  the  passage  of  my  annual  message  referred  to  by  your  resolu 
tion,  I  expressed  the  opinion  that  the  object  of  primary  and  tran 
scendent  importance  in  the  measures  connected  with  the  administra 
tion  of  canals  is  "to  reform  the  system  and  to  establish  every  pos 
sible  security  against  the  recurrence  of  the  evils." 

This  object  is  to  be  attained  by  an  exposure  of  the  wrongs,  by 
appropriate  measures  of  legislation  to  prevent  and  punish  similar 
wrongs  hereafter  by  the  enforcement  of  existing  laws  imposing  pen 
alties  upon  the  wrong-doers,  and,  as  far  as  possible,  by  compelling 
restitution.  Even  in  the  narrow  sense  of  pecuniary  advantage  to  the, 
people,  infinitely  more  is  accomplished  by  breaking  up  the  system 
than  can  be  hoped  to  be  recovered  in  civil  action.  If  adequate  proofs 
could  always  be  had,  complete  restitution  cannot  always  be  effected; 
still  less  full  damages  for  wastes  committed  to  enable  the  illicit  prof 
its  to  be  gained  which  are  often  much  larger  than  those  profits.  The 
expenditures  in  jobs  connected  with  the  canals  have  averaged  from 
two  to  three  millions  of  dollars  annually.  Nearly  the  whole  of  this 
amount  can  be  saved  to  the  Treasury  or  left  in  the  pockets  of  the 
tax-payers  without  detriment  to  any  public  interest.  For  the  pres- 


216  THE   LIFE   OF   SAMUEL   J.  TILDEN. 

ent  fiscal  year  that  saving  has  been  accomplished  irrespective  of  any 
litigations  in  the  courts.  There  is  no  reason  why  the  same  saving 
should  not  be  effected  hereafter. 

The  indictment,  trial,  and  conviction  of  persons  who  have  com 
mitted  criminal  offenses  under  existing  laws  have  for  their  object  the 
general  purpose  of  remedial  justice  by  deterring  in  the  future  from 
the  commission  of  similar  offenses.  Civil  actions  by  the  State,  while 
they  have  an  incidental  effect  of  the  same  nature,  have  the  further 
and  their  main  object  of  compelling  restitution  of  the  public  money 
unlawfully  taken. 

Indictments  since  the  law  of  18Y3  can  be  found  at  any  time 
within  five  years  of  the  time  of  the  commission  of  the  offense. 

Civil  actions  by  the  State  for  the  recovery  of  money  in  such  cases 
can,  under  the  laws  of  1875,  be  brought  at  any  time  within  ten  years 
after  the  cause  of  action  occurred. 

The  investigations  of  the  commission,  faithful  and  laborious  as 
they  have  been,  leave  unexplored  far  more  than  has  been  brought  to 
light. 

Official  bodies  like  the  Canal  Board  and  the  Commissioners  of  the 
Canal  Fund  ought  to  be  clothed,  as  permanent  standing  authorities, 
with  full  powers  of  investigation,  in  their  respective  spheres,  as  to 
all  wrongs  done  in  respect  to  public  moneys  or  property.  The  Comp 
troller,  as  the  general  fiscal  representative  of  the  State,  and  perhaps 
other  public  officers,  ought  to  be  vested  with  similar  powers. 

It  is  quite  manifest  that  it  would  overtask  the  powers  of  any  one 
man  to  conduct  the  criminal  and  civil  actions  that  have  been  and 
ought  to  be  instituted  for  these  objects.  Vast  sums  stolen  from  the 
Treasury  will  be,  as  in  similar  cases  they  have  been,  employed  in 
securing  extraordinary  service  in  legal  ability,  in  professional  experts, 
and  in  indefatigable  activity  to  defend,  by  every  technical  artifice, 
the  unjust  possession.  There  is  no  force  of  detectives  connected 
with  the  office  of  the  Attorney-General,  neither  are  the  district 
attorneys  his  subordinates. 

The  Attorney- General  of  the  United  States,  on  the  other  hand, 
has  all  of  the  district  attorneys  and  all  of  the  marshals  and  deputy- 
marshals,  besides  a  large  number  of  skilled  experts,  perfectly  at  his 
command ;  and  Congress  every  year  makes  a  sufficient  appropriation 
to  meet  whatever  expenses  may  be  necessary  in  the  preparation  of 
suits  for  trial. 

The  actions  growing  out  of  canal  frauds  involve  the  examination 


THE   "CANAL  RING"  AND  ITS  OVERTHROW.  217 

of  complicated  facts  relating  to  construction  and  the  quality  and  util 
ity  and  value  of  the  work,  and  they  cannot  be  properly  prepared  or 
tried  without  the  assistance  of  experts. 

It  has  been  usual  to  make  a  small  annual  appropriation  to  enable 
the  Attorney-General  to  employ  counsel  to  assist  him  in  the  discharge 
of  his  official  duties.  The  suggestion  in  my  annual  message,  that  the 
ordinary  appropriation  would  be  insufficient,  but  that  a  "special" 
appropriation  would  be  necessary  to  enable  him  to  enforce  the  rights 
of  the  State  and  to  meet  the  just  expectations  of  the  people,  had  ref 
erence  to  the  expenses  necessary  for  preparing  these  suits  for  trial, 
and  for  conducting  these  trials. 

SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 
» 

The  Senate,  finding  the  Governor  so  ready  to  answer  its 
questions,  hesitated  about  propounding  any  more.  But,  later 
in  the  session,  he  communicated  to  both  Houses  of  the  Legis 
lature  the  following  succinct  statement  of  the  general  results 
of  the  investigations : 

STATE  OF  NEW  YORK,  EXECUTIVE  CHAMBER,  ) 
ALBANY,  March  24,  1876.  [ 

To  the  Legislature : 

The  results  of  the  investigations  ordered  at  the  last  session  into 
the  work  on  the  Erie  and  other  canals,  purporting  to  be  improve 
ments,  and  known  in  the  language  of  our  legislation  as  "extraordi 
nary  repairs,"  have  been  submitted  to  you.  They  establish  these 
conclusions : 

1.  The  expenditures  for  these  purposes,  during  the  last  five  years, 
were,  directly,  about  $11,000,000,  and  indirectly  about  $3,000,000, 
making  $14,000,000,  and  involved  taxation  amounting  to  nearly  $15,- 
000,000.     This  is  in  addition  to  vast  sums  expended  in  former  years. 

2.  The  mass  of  the  work  for  which  these   expenditures  were 
made  was  of  no  real  utility  to  the  public.     The  waste  in  construction 
—which  furnished  jobs  to  contractors,  but  was  of  no  value  to  the 
State — has  been  even  larger  than  the  illicit  and  fraudulent  gains. 

3.  Most  of  the  contracts  were  obtained  by  the  system  of  unbal 
anced  bids  and  other  dishonest  devices. 

4.  Much  of  the  work  was  executed  in  violation  of  the  contracts, 
and  is  worthless. 

The  advantages  to  the  State  of  the  investigations  have  not  been 
10 


218  THE   LIFE   OF   SAMUEL   J.   TILDEN. 

limited  to  the  discovery  of  the  particular  frauds ;  nor  even  to  the 
destruction  of  a  system  involving  a  vast  annual  loss  to  the  tax-payers 
— demoralizing  to  the  public  service — and  corrupting  to  all  govern 
mental  life. 

Incidentally,  in  arresting  these  practices,  a  fund  has  been  rescued 
from  spoliation  out  of  which  a  real,  important,  and  valuable  improve 
ment  can  be  effected  in  the  main  trunks  of  the  canals. 

On  the  first  of  last  month,  there  remained,  as  nearly  as  I  can 
ascertain,  of  the  funds  applicable  to  extraordinary  repairs  and  new 
work  :  .  • ;  ; 

Unappropriated  to  specific  objects $633,000 

Existing  appropriations  for  objects  not  under  contracts.  360,000 
Estimated  as  necessary  to  settle  existing,  contracts  : 

Erie  Canal $347,000 

Champlain  Canal. 30,000 

Oneida  Lake  Canal 6,000 

$383,000 

Balance  after  selling  contracts  as  proposed 300,000 

Sum  available  for  new  work  on  Champlain  Canal  enlarge 
ment 270,000 

Oneida  Lake 41,000 

$1,604,000 

While  this  branch  of  the  subject  is  under  consideration, 
it  is  desirable  that  the  reader  should  understand  how  large  a 
saving  has  been  effected  in  the  State  of  New  York  by  a  wise 
administration  of  affairs.  For  this  I  append  : 

MEMORANDA  FILED  WITH  TAX-BILL  BY  GOVERNOR  TIL- 
.      DEN  IN  THE  OFFICE  OF  THE  SECRETARY  OF  STATE, 

1876. 

ASSEMBLY  BILL  No.  274,  entitled  "  An  act  to  authorize  a  tax  of 
three-tenths  of  a  mill  per  dollar  of  valuation  to  provide  for  deficiency 
in  the  sinking-fund  under  section  3  of  Article  VII.  of  the  constitu 
tion." 

Not  approved. 

This  bill  authorizes  a  tax  of  three-tenths  of  one  mill  to  meet  the 
deficiencies  in  the  canal  sinking:fund  in  obedience  to  section  3  of 
Article  VII.  of  the  constitution.  The  valuation,  as  nearly  as  can 


THE   '•  CANAL   RING"   AND   ITS  OVERTHROW.  219 

now  be  ascertained  from  the  reports  of  the  assessors  in  the  Comp- 
troller'sfcoffice,  is  $2,390,803,696.  The  produce  of  this  tax,  computed 
on  that  valuation,  would  be  $717,241. 

This  bill  came  into  the  Executive  chamber  on  the  27th  day  of 
April.  It  is  rendered  unnecessary  by  a  subsequent  act,  which  came 
into  the  Executive  chamber  on  the  4th  of  May — the  day  after  the  ad 
journment—and  which  provides  for  paying  these  deficiencies  without 
a  tax.  This  latter  bill,  in  accordance  with  my  special  message  of 
March  24, 1876,  in  relation  to  the  canals,  provides  for  the  completion 
or  cancellation  of  pending  contracts  for  extraordinary  repairs,  and 
for  the  application  of  $1,600,000  of  money,  yet  unexpended,  which 
had  been  reclaimed  from  the  folly,  waste,  and  fraud  incident  to  those 
expenditures. 

It  contained  two  appropriations  for  real  improvements  to  the  Erie 
Canal.  The  one  was  $400,000  for  bottoming  it  out  an'd  restoring  it 
to  the  lawful  depth  of  seven  feet.  The  other  was  the  subsequent 
use  of  $800,000  to  go  on  with  like  improvements  in  the  water-way, 
which  would  facilitate  and  quicken  the  transit  of  the  boat  by  deepen 
ing  the  volume  of  water  through  which  it  should  move  on  the  levels. 
No  doubt  a  measure  so  practical,  so  simple  and  economical,  would 
lessen  the  cost  of  transportation,  and  would  be  of  more  real  service 
to  the  navigation  than  ten  millions  expended  in  the  usual  manner. 

At  the  very  close  of  the  session,  the  chairman  of  the  Canal  Com 
mittee  of  the  Assembly,  who  had  supported  such  improvements  on 
the  Erie  Canal  as  well  as  on  the  Champlain,  came  to  me  with  the  in 
formation  that  the  latter  appropriation  of  $800,000  for  the  Erie  would 
fail  in  the  Senate,  which  had  manifested  opposition  to  these  measures. 
The  next  best  use  of  the  rescued  moneys  seemed  to  be  to  pay  debts 
and  remit  taxes.  An  amendment  was  prepared  making  that  change. 
It  was  adopted  fifteen  minutes  before  the  close  of  the  legislative 
session.  I  have  signed  that  bill,  and  now  reject  this. 

TAXES    FOE   18H   AND    1876. 

The  taxes  for  1874  were  7£  mills  on  a  valuation  of  $2,169,307,873. 
They  amounted  to  $15,727,482. 

The  taxes  for  1876  will  be  3££  mills  on  a  valuation  likely  to  be, 
as  nearly  as  can  now  be  ascertained,  $2,390,803,696.  That  would 
produce  $8,268,196. 

This  result  approximates  to  the  ideal  proposed  in  my  last  annual 
message  of  reducing  the  taxes  for  1876  to  one-half  those  of  1874. 


220    •  THE   LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.   TILDEN.   , 

It  has  been  worked  out,  notwithstanding  an  increase  of  $276,869 
in  the  tax  for  schools,  caused  by  an  increase  of  valuation  applied  to 
a  system  which  makes  the  assessors  the  real  arbiters  of  the  amount 
of  the  tax,  and  which  has  increased  it  a  million  in  the  last  few  years. 
And,  also,  notwithstanding  $200,000  is  included  for  the  Commission 
ers  of  Emigration,  which  is,  in  effect,  a  loan. 

DEBTS   PAID   IN   1874   AND   1876. 

In  1874  the  appropriations  for  sinking-funds  were: 

Bounty  debt  sinking-fund $4,260,000 

Canal  floating  debt  sinking-fund 198,888 

Total  in  1874 $4,458,888 

In  1876,  the  appropriations  to  the  bounty  debt  sinking-fund  were: 

Proceeds  of  one-third  mill  tax $796,934 

Surplus  of  tax  last   year   unappro 
priated  till  now 475,560 

Premium  actually  realized  thus  far  by 

Mr.  Robinson's  conversions 750,207 

Making -         -  $2,022,701 

The  appropriations  for  the  canal  debt  sinking-fund  were : 
From  moneys  reclaimed  from  extraor 
dinary  repair-fund  for  principal. .  .$630,325 

For  interest 93,032 

, 723,357 

•  Total  in  1876 2,746,058 

Less  applied  to  sinking-funds  in  1876  than  1874 $1,712,830 

In  round  sums,  a  million  and  three-quarters  less  has  been  absorbed 
into  the  sinking-funds  in  1876  than  in  1874;  but  of  the  two  millions 
and  three-quarters,  which  have  been  or  are  to  be  so  absorbed  in  1876, 
two  millions  come  from  savings  and  economies,  and  the  tax  for  the 
sinking-fund  in  1876  is  thereby  reduced  to  three-quarters  of  one  . 
million. 

ITEMS    OF    SAYIXGS. 

Of  this  two  millions  of  savings,  the  item  of  $475,000,  carried 
over  from  the  taxes  of  last  year  and  now  first  appropriated,  and  the 
item  of  $723,000  now  rescued  from  the  extraordinary  canal  wastes, 


THE   "CANAL  RING"  AND  ITS   OVERTHROW.  221 

have  been  explained.  The  other  item,  $750,000  of  realized  pre 
miums,  remains  to  be  explained. 

In  the  report  of  Comptroller  Hopkins,  dated  January  4,  1876,  it 
was  estimated  that  the  balance  of  interest  to  be  paid  by  the  bounty 
debt  sinking-fund  over  that  to  be  received  by  it  would  be  $893,767, 
but  that  the  premium  on  the  securities  held  by  the  sinking-fund 
would  amount  to  $1,200,000,  and  a  surplus  over  the  balance  of  in-. 
terest  would  remain,  amounting  to  $306,233. 

These  premiums  were  nearly  all  on  long  stocks  of  the  State  and 
United  States,  payable  in  gold.  On  the  resumption  of  specie-pay 
ments,  or  the  approach  of  that  result,  or  a  general  public  expectation 
of  it,  most  of  those  premiums  would  vanish.  A  loss  of  one-quarter 
of  them  would  extinguish  all  the  surplus  beyond  the  adverse  balance 
of  the  interest  account.  Successful  financiering  in  private  or  public 
affairs  depends  largely  upon  the  disposition  to  seize  the  opportune 
moment  for  converting  favorable  possibilities  into  certainties.  I  vent 
ured  in  the  last  annual  message  to  suggest  the  application  of  the 
sinking-fund  to  the  payment  of  the  debts. 

This  suggestion,  and  the  more  explicit  reasons  now  disclosed, 
would  probably  have  gone  for  nothing  if  Mr.  Comptroller  Eobinson 
had  not  come  into  the  charge  of  the  State  finances.  His  own  notions 
of  sound  finance  dictated  a  policy  which  he  has,  as  far  as  has  been 
practicable,  executed  with  rare  sagacity,  judgment,  and  skill.  In  four 
months,  he  has  bought  in  $4,625,900  of  the  bounty  debt  by  exchanges 
and  by  conversions  of  assets  and  purchase  of  State  liabilities.  He 
has  realized  $750,207  of  these  premiums,  being  $255,631  in  excess 
of  the  estimated  value  of  the  assets,  converted — after  deducting  the 
premiums  on  the  debts  bought  in. 

SOURCES   OF    ECONOMIES    CAUSING   THE   KEDTICTION   OF   TAXES. 

The  whole  saving  in  1876,  as  compared  with  1874,  allowing  for 
the  excess  of  the  appropriation  for  schools  of  $276,869,  and  the  loan 
of  $200,000  to  the  Commissioners  of  Emigration,  is  $7,936,155.  Of 
that  sum  $1,712,830  is  in  the  diminished  payments  on  debts.  All 
the  residue,  $6,223,325,  is  in  real  economies. 

SAVINGS. 

The  application  of  savings,  from  former  taxes  and  from  the  ex 
penditures  for  which  they  were  levied  in  the  particulars  mentioned, 
furnishes  $1,949,004. 


222  THE   LJFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.   TILDEN. 

CANAL   EXPENDITURES. 

The  diminution  of  certain  canal  expenditures  furnishes  $2,372,680. 
The  taxes  for  these  purposes  were  in 

1874.  1876. 

Extraordinary  repairs $1,898,144     None. 

Awards  and  outlays  in  excess  of  appropriations,       474,536     None. 


$2,372,680 
all  of  which  was  saved. 

GENEEAL  EXPENSES 

(including    Capitol  and  asylums  and  reformatories,  and  excluding 
increase  of  tax  for  schools  and  advances  to  Emigrant  Commission)  : 

1874 $6,007,620 

1876 4,005,887 


Saving .- $2,001,733 

RECAPITULATION. 

Saving  applied $1,949,204 

Canal  retrenchments 2,372,680 

General  retrenchments 2,001,733" 

Total $6,353,617 

It  thus  appears  that  nearly  eighty  per  cent,  of  the  reduction  of 
eight  millions  in  State  taxes  was  directly  produced  by  these  economies. 

OTHER   RETRENCHMENTS. 

Expenses  paid  out  of  the  revenues  and  funds  of  the  State,  though 
they  do  not  in  the  first  instance  affect  the  taxes,  ultimately  come  to 
that  result  when  they  have  to  be  replaced.  They  are,  therefore, 
equally  worthy  of  attention. 

ORDINARY    CANAL-REPAIRS. 

1874.                    1876.  Saving. 

Current $1,424,510         $1,120,600  $303,910 

Deficiencies 250,000              156,879  93,121 

Total  saving $397,031 

RE  APPROPRIATIONS. 

These  are  paid  out  of  cash  in  the  Treasury  : 

1874.  1876.  Saving. 

$917,379  None.  $917,379 


THE   "CANAL  RING"   AND   ITS   OVERTHROW.  223 

EECLAMATIONS. 

The  reclamations  of  moneys  in  the  Treasury  from  unexpended 
appropriations  for  extraordinary  repairs  amount  to  $1,604,000.  A 
considerable  sum  in  addition  may  be  expected. 

SEDUCTIONS   IN   1875   AS   COMPAEED   WITH   1874. 

Extraordinary  repairs $1,898,144 

Ordinary  repairs 415,360 

Awards  and  outlays  hi  excess  of  appropriations 40,674 

Reappropriations 677,240 

$2,931,413 
EEDTICTIONS   IN  1876    AS   COMPAEED   WITH   1874. 

Extraordinary  repairs $1,898,144 

Ordinary  repairs 397,031 

Awards  and  outlays  in  excess  of  appropria 
tions 474,536 

Reappropriations _l1.!f!!$3,687,090 

This  is  besides  the  reclamation  of  money  realized  to  the  extent  of 
$1,600,000,  .and  likely  to  reach  $2,000,000. 

In  the  mean  time,  no  interest  of  the  State  has  been  injured  or 
neglected.  The  appropriation  for  the  new  Capitol  for  the  present 
year,  of  $800,000,  will  yield  more  means  to  pay  for  new  work  than 
the  usual  appropriation  of  $1,000,000  ;  for  the  fresh  construction  will 
start  without  any  of  the  arrears  which  have  heretofore  encumbered 
its  progress.  The  appropriation  of  nearly  $500,000,  for  continuing 
the  construction  of  asylums  and  reformatories,  is  made  more  effective 
by  being  carefully  applied  to  the  completion  of  specific  portions  to  be 
brought  into  use. 

The  people  may  have  the  satisfaction  of  feeling  that,  while  half  of 
their  State  taxes  are  remitted— $8,000,000  out  of  $16,000,000— it  is 
accomplished  without  improvidence  of  the  future  or  -temporary  re 
trenchment  which  cannot  be  maintained ;  and  that  the  appropria 
tions  have  been  kept  clearly  without  the  means  provided  by  the  taxes 
levied  ;  so  that  no  temporary  floating  debt  will  be  created,  or  inva 
sion  of  the  sinking-funds  made,  as  has  often,  and  to  a  large  extent, 
happened  hitherto,  in  disobedience  to  the  express  commands  of  the 
constitution,  and  in  violation  of  the  whole  scheme  and  policy  of  that 
instrument,  in  reepect  to  the  State  finances. 


224:  THE  LIFE  OF  SAMUEL  J.   TILDEN. 

This  saving  of  one-half  the  taxes  in  the  State  of  New 
York  is  the  final  outcome  of  that  system  of  administrative 
reform  which  was  fairly  instituted  when  Governor  Tilden  de 
clared  war  against  the  "  Canal  Ring."  On  the  19th  of  March, 
1875,  the  "  Ring  "  was  in  the  fulness  of  its  power.  The  Legis 
lature  was  preparing  to  appropriate  the  usual  sum  for  extraor 
dinary  repairs.  There  appeared  to  be  no  inclination  to  re 
trench  the  expenditures  in  any  direction.  Many  of  the  New 
York  law-givers  concurred  in  the  opinion  expressed  more  re 
cently  by  the  Republican  Senators  in  Congress,  that  economy 
could  not  be  practised  without  "  crippling  the  Government." 
Mr.  Tilden  thought  otherwise.  He  struck  blow  after  blow  at 
the  system  of  corruption  and  extravagance,  till  the  whole  rot 
ten  fabric  fell  to  the  ground. 

The  "  Canal  Ring  "  is  destroyed.  One  of  its  members  is  a 
convicted  felon,  and  over  the  heads  of  half  a  dozen  others  in 
dictments  hang.  The  enormous  sum  which  it  annually  secured 
for  fraudulent  contracts  is  wrested  from  the  people  no  more. 
Its  destruction  has  led  to  a  general  overhauling  of  other  ex 
penditures,  and  to  the  substitution  of  better  methods  of  finan 
cial  administration.  If  this  same  good  system  were  extended 
over  the  area  of  the  Federal  Government,  would  not  the  re 
sult  be  desirable  ? 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

THE    GOVERNMENT    OF   MUNICIPALITIES. 

ON  the  llth  of  May,  1875,  Governor  Tilden  submitted  to 
the  Legislature  a  special  message  on  the  question  of  municipal 
government.  It  is  a  subject  to  which  he  has  given  much 
thought  and  attention.  Born  and  reared  in  a  country  town, 
he  went  to  New  York  as  a  young  man,  and,  for  a  long  period 
of  years,  he  has  watched  the  dangers  against  which  he  warns 
others,  and  considered  the  remedies  which  he  recommends. 
The  subject  of  the  message  is  of  such  general  interest,  and 
the  treatment  of  it  is  so  philosophical  and  exhaustive,  that  it 
is  herewith  reproduced. 

STATE  OF  NEW  YORK,  EXECUTIVE  CHAMBER,  ) 
ALBANY,  May  11,  1875.  j 

To  the  Legislature : 

The  constitution  (Article  VIII.,  section  9)  declares  that— 

"  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Legislature  to  provide  for  the  organi 
zation  of  cities  and  incorporated  villages,  and  to  restrict  their  powers 
of  taxation,  assessment,  borrowing  money,  contracting  debts,  and 
loaning  their  credit,  so  as  to  prevent  abuses  in  assessments,  and  in 
contracting  debt  by  such  municipal  corporations." 

The  convention  of  1846,  having  exhausted  its  sessions  in  the  con 
sideration  .of  questions  upon  which  it  acted,  and  finding  itself  unable 
to  deal  adequately  with,  the  problem  of  municipal  government,  on 
the  day  before  its  adjournment,  charged  that  duty  upon  the  Legisla 
ture.  Its  primary  object  was  to  protect  tax-payers  in  the  municipali 
ties  against  abuses  on  the  part  of  local  governing  officials,  in  taxation 
for  local  administration,  in  assessments  for  local  improvements,  in 
the  contraction  of  municipal  debts,  and  in  the  loaning  of  municipal 
credit. 

Those  evils  had  already  attracted  attention,  though  they  were  at 
that  time  but  in  the  beginning  of  the  monstrous  growth  to  which 


226  THE  LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.   TILDEN. 

they  have  now  attained.  In  the  twenty-nine  years  which  have 
elapsed  the  increase  of  population  in  this  State  has  been  chiefly  in 
the  cities  and  incorporated  villages,  until,  at  the  census  of  1870,  those 
organizations  embraced  more  than  two  millions,  and  now  about  two 
millions  and  four  hundred  thousand  of  our  people.  The  course  of 
legislation,  so  far  from  obeying  the  injunction  of  the  constitution, 
has  been  mainly  in  the  opposite  direction. 

Every  annual  statute-book  has  been  largely  occupied  with  enact 
ments  favoring  the  growth  of  municipal  expenditure,  involving  taxa 
tion,,  assessments,  the  contraction  of  debt,  and  the  loaning  of  credit. 
The  result,  so  far  as  the  cities  of  the  State  are  concerned,  is  shown 
by  an  abstract  of-  reports  from  the  twenty-four  cities,  which  have 
been  furnished  to  me  by  the  local  officials,  and  which  .1  herewith 
transmit  to  your  honorable  body. 

MUNICIPAL   TAXATION. 

The  aggregate  valuation  of  property  in  these  .cities,  subject  to 
taxation  in  1874,  was  $1,569,535,074. 

The  aggregate  of  city  taxation  was  $30,439,121. 

The  aggregate  county  and  State  taxation  was  $13,990,487. 

The  aggregate  of  taxation  was  $50,429,609. 

The  aggregate  debt  of  these  cities  was  $175,657,267. 

Computing  the  taxation  and  debt  on  the  population  of  1870,  add 
ing  twenty  per  cent,  for  subsequent  growth,  the  city  taxation  was 
$15.57,  the  county  and  State  taxation  $5.98,  and  the  aggregate  was 
$21.55  for  each  inhabitant.  The  city  debt  was,  for  each  inhabitant, 
$75.80. 

It  .must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  proportion  of  the  assessed  valu 
ation  of  real  estate  to  its  actual  value  is  fixed  in  these  reports  accord 
ing  to  a  standard  from  which  there  is  now  a  large  reduction.  The 
average  of  the  assessment  is  55.43  per  cent,  of  the  true  value. 

If  the  recent  fall  in  marketable  values  be  estimated  at  one-third, 
the  rate  of  the  assessed  valuation  would  be  eighty  per  cent,  of  the 
actual  value. 

It  may  be  presumed  that  the  values  stated  in  these  reports  have 
reference  to  real  property.  No  allowance  is  made  for  the  undervalu 
ation  of  personal  property. 

It  is  probable  that,  in  many  instances,  the  taxation  imposed  upon 
property  in  cities  has  been  from  one-quarter  to  one-third,  and  by  the 


THE   GOVERNMENT  OF  MUNICIPALITIES.  227 

decline  of  rents  is  now  one-third,  and  sometimes  reaches  one-half  the 
income  of  real  estate. 

In  1853,  when  the  population  of  the  United  States  numbered 
twenty-five  millions,  the  whole  cost  of  its  Government  was  under 
$55,000,000.  It  will  be  seen  that  less  than  two  millions  and  a  half 
of  inhabitants  of  the  cities  of  New  York  pay  nearly  as  much  taxa 
tion  as  was  imposed  on  twenty -five  millions,  about  twenty  years  ago, 
for  the  cost  of  the  army,  navy,  Indian  treaties,  and  all  other  ex 
penses  of  the  General  Government. 

As  I  remarked  in  my  annual  message  :  "In  the  decade  beginning 
July  1,  1865,  the  people  will  have  paid  in  taxes,  computed  in  cur 
rency,  seven  thousand  millions  of  dollars.  Three-fifths  were  for  the 
use  of  the  Federal  Government,  and  two-fifths  for  the  State  and 
municipal  governments.  It  is  doubtless  true  that  some  portions  of 
the  municipal  expenditures  were  for  objects  not  strictly  govern 
mental.  But  it  cannot  be  questioned  that  much  too  large  a  portion 
of  the  whole  net  earnings  of  industry,  and  of  the  whole  net  income 
of  society,  is  taken  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  on  government  in 
this  country.  The  burden  could  more  easily  be  borne  when  values 
were  high,  and  were  ascending.  As  they  recede  toward  their  former 
level,  the  taxes  consume  a  larger  quantity  of  the  products  which  have 
to  be  sold  in  order  to  pay  them.  They  weigh  with  a  constantly-in 
creasing  severity  upon  all  business  and  upon  all  classes.  They  shrivel 
up  more  and  more  the  earnings  of  labor.  This  condition  of  things 
ought  to  admonish  us,  in  our  respective  spheres,  to  be  as  abstinent 
as  possible  in  appropriations  for  public  expenditures.  If  the  cost  of 
government  in  our  country  were  reduced,  as  it  ought  to  be,  one-third, 
it  would  still  be  larger  than  a  few  years  ago,  taking  account  of  the 
prices  of  the  products,  which,  in  order  to  pay  that  cost,  we  are  com 
pelled  to  convert  into  money." 

CONSEQUENCES. 

The  burdens  upon  tax-payers  in  cities  are  exhibited  in  various 
ways :  bills  for  relief  by  the  temporary  funding  of  floating  debts ; 
bills  authorizing  loans  to  carry  on  or  complete  permanent  improve 
ments;  frequent  appeals  from  tax-payers  against  the  measures  of 
local  officials,  so  numerous  that  it  is  quite  impossible  to  arbitrate  intel 
ligently  between  the  contending  parties,  are  among  the  incidents  of 
the  times. 

The  choice,  between  the  opposite  evils  which  such  cases  present, 


22S  THE  LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

is  often  difficult  and  the  result  unsatisfactory.  Works  by  the  locali 
ties,  as  by  the  State,  which  ought  not '  to  have  been  undertaken,  or 
which  are  on  a  scale  too  expensive  or  extravagant,  are  advanced  so 
near  to  completion  that  it  is  not  expedient  to  refuse  the  means,  to 
finish  them,  or  not  proper  to  overrule  the  local  officials  without  a 
more  intelligent  and  assured  personal  judgment  than  is  possible.  It 
will  not  do  to  enforce  the  rule  that  loans  for  permanent  improve 
ments  shall  be  accompanied  by  a  sinking-fund  in  many  cases  where 
there  was  no  notice.  But  I  have  refused  to  sanction  a  bill  diverting 
funds,  raised  by  permanent  loan  and  not  needed  for  its  original  pur 
pose,  to  current  expenses,  and  I  have  insisted  that,  in  funding  floating 
debts,  the  loans  should  be  but  temporary  until  the  deficiency  could 
be  provided  for  by  taxation. 

It  has  been  impracticable  to  at  once  inaugurate  a  better  system. 
The  whole  subject  requires  a  careful  and  thorough  investigation,  and 
the  adoption  of  a  fixed  policy  which  shall  be  known  to  the  people, 
and  to  which  they  shall  conform. 
• 

JUDICIAL   REMEDIES. 

It  is  but  just  to  the  present  Legislature  to  say  that  the  three 
bills  which  it  adopted  with  great  unanimity,  providing  judicial  reme 
dies  against  frauds,  affecting  the  public  moneys  or  property,  are  of 
more  value  for  the  repression  of  the  evils  of  municipal  government 
than  all  the  legislation  which  has  taken  place  during  the  twenty-nine 
years  in  which  the  mandate  of  the  constitution,  in  respect  to  munici 
pal  administration,  has  remained  unexecuted. 

It  is  true  they  reach  abuses  only  when  extravagance  and  improvi 
dence  degenerate  into  bad  faith  or  fraud,  but  they  apply  to  every 
official  of  every  city,  as  well  as  to  all  State,  county,  and  town  func 
tionaries. 

They  apply  to  every  case  in  which  a  city  official  shall,  with  intent 
to  defraud,  wrongfully  obtain,  receive,  convert,  pay  out,  or  dispose 
of,  any  public  moneys,  funds,  credits,  or  property.  They  apply  to 
every  case  in  which  such  an  official  shall,  with  like  intent,  by  will 
fully  paying,  allowing,  or  auditing  any  false  or  unjust  claim,  or  in 
any  other  manner  or  way  whatever,  aid  or  abet  any  other  person  in 
wrongfully  obtaining,  receiving,  converting,  paying  out,  or  disposing 
of  any  public  money,  funds,  credits,  or  property.  They  apply  also  to 
every  person  who,  dealing  with  any  official,  shall,  with  intent  to  de 
fraud,  wrongfully  obtain,  receive,  convert,  pay  out,  or  dispose  of,  any 


THE   GOVERNMENT   OF  MUNICIPALITIES.  229 

such  money,  funds,  credits,  or  property.  They  sweep  away  the 
complicated  technicalities  by  which  conviction  for  such  offenses  has 
hitherto  been  embarrassed  or  defeated. 

One  of  these  acts  provides  for  every  such  offense  penalties  ade 
quate  to  its  enormity,  in  imprisonment  in  the  State-prison  for  not 
less  than  three  nor  more  than  ten  years,  and  a  fine  not  exceeding 
five  times  the  amount  of  the.  loss  resulting  from  the  fraudulent  act. 
Another  provides  for  the  arrest  of  the  person  and  the  attachment 
of  the  property  of  the  wrong-doer. 

The  third  of  these  acts  provides  for  the  contingency  that  the 
local  governing  officials  shall  be  able  to  exercise  influence  over  the 
officer  whose  duty  it  would  be  to  order  an  action  for  redress  of  such 
a  wrong,  or  whose  duty  it  would  be  to  conduct  the  suit ;  OF,  where 
a  local  influence  might  be  exercised  upon  the  judiciary ;  and  enables 
the  injured  tax-payer  to  appeal  to  the  State  for  relief,  and  gives  a 
method  of  procedure  both  rapid  and  effective. 

These  laws,  when  they  come  to  be  generally  known  to  the  people, 
cannot  fail  to  exercise  a  very  salutary  restraint  upon  all  official  per 
sons.  They  afford  a  system  of  remedies  hitherto  unknown  in  our 
jurisprudence,  which  for  their  special  purposes  may  well  be  deemed 
comprehensive,  complete,  and  effective. 

ADDITIONAL   MEASUEES. 

Additional  measures  of  remedy  and  restraint  can  no  doubt  be 
devised  in  the  legislation  for  local  government.  The  tax-payers 
should  be  invested  with  powers  of  association  and  organization  for 
the  purpose  of  investigating  the  doings  of  their  local  officials  and 
enforcing  publicity,  and  for  the  purpose  of  instituting  suits  in  the 
courts  to  restrain  and  redress  public  wrongs,  without  having  recourse 
to  the  ultimate  resort  designed  for  great  cases,  in  an  action  by  the 
State.  They  might  also  be  endowed  with  capacity  to  take  and  exe 
cute  contracts  for  public  work,  under  the  supervision  of  and  on  the 
plans  fixed  by  the  municipal  officers.  There  is  no  reason,  for  in 
stance,  why  the  persons  taxable  for  the  improvement  of  a  street 
should  not  be  allowed  to  associate,  and  by  their  own  agents  execute 
the  work  for  which  they  pay. 

Even  then  a  still  broader  field  opens  for  measures  of  reform.  To 
define  the  powers  of  the  local  governing  officials  in  matters  of  ex 
penditure,  taxation,  assessment,  and  to  create  an  effectual  responsi 
bility  of  those  officials  to  the  voters  of  the  locality,  to  establish 


230  THE  LIFE   OF   SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

official  accountability  on  their  part,  to  adopt  the  machinery  most 
favorable  to  good  administration — these  are  the  objects  which  con 
cern  2,400,000  of  our  people  more  deeply,,  perhaps,  than  any  other 
question  of  administration  that  invites  the  public  attention. 

DUTY    OF    THE   STATE. 

The  duty  of  the  State  to  establish  constitutional  provisions  and 
to  enact  laws  protecting,  as  far  as  practicable,  the  inhabitants  of 
cities  from  abuses  of  maladministration  committed  by  the  local 
governing  officials,  and  preserving  the  rights  of  individual  citizens 
and  of  the  minority  as  against  the  majority,  is  undeniable.  That 
obligation  results  from  the  relations  which  exist  between  the  State 
in  its  collective  capacity  and  the  local  divisions  of  the  State,  and  be 
tween  the  State  and  the  local  officers.  In  the  theory  of  our  civil 
polity,  the  sovereignty  of  the  State,  subject  only  to  the  grants  it  has 
made  to  the  Union,  resides  in  the  aggregate  people  of  the  whole 
State.  All  powers  vested  in  the  cities  and  incorporated  villages, 
and  in  the  municipal  officers,  and  all  powers  vested  in  county  and 
town  officers,  are  theoretically  delegations  from  the  people,  made  by 
the  constitution  or  by  laws  authorized  by  and  in  pursuance  of  the 
constitution.  At  the  same  time  their  utility  for  the  purposes  of 
local  administration  is  so  recognized  by  the  sentiments  of  our  people 
that  it  has  come  to  be  jnstly  considered  as  an  obligation  to  make 
them  and  a  right  to  receive  them. 

The  powers  intrusted  by  the  State  to  the  local  officials  are  admin 
istrative,  special,  and  for  local  objects.  In  the  most  completely  de 
veloped  municipality  they  embrace  the  care  of  police,  health,  schools, 
street-cleaning,  prevention  of  fires,  supplying  water  and  'gas,  and 
similar  matters  most  conveniently  attended  to  in  partnership  by  per 
sons  living  together  in  a  dense  community,  and  the  expenditure  and 
taxation  money  for  these  objects.  The  right  of  persons,  property, 
and  the  judicial  systems  instituted  for  their  preservation — general 
legislation— government  in  its  proper  sense — these  are  vast  domains 
which  the  functions  of  municipal  corporations  and  municipal  officers 
do  not  touch. 

PEOGBESS    OF   LOCAL   SELF-GOVERNMENT. 

The  first  constitution  of  this  State,  formed  in  1777,  provided  for 
the  appointment  and  removal  of  all  local  officers  by  a  council  com 
posed  of  the  Governor  and  four  Senators  chosen  every  year  by  four 


THE   GOVERNMENT   OF  .MUNICIPALITIES.  231 

subdivisions  of  the  Assembly.  The  system  continued  until  it  involved 
.the  selection  of  fifteen  thousand  officers — civil  and  military — when 
our  population  was  but  one-third  of  its  present  magnitude.  Every 
year  assembled  in  Albany,  from  all  parts  of  the  State,  candidates  and 
their  friends,  for  a  general  scramble.  The  strifes  of  parties  were  in 
tensified  by  personal  selfishness,  and  aggregated  in  a  single  centre. 
The  evils  of  the  system  contributed  to  the  calling  of  a  convention 
which  formed  the  constitution  of  1821. 

That  instrument  substituted  election  by  the  people  of  the  locali 
ties  or  appointment  by  the  local  authorities,  in  respect  to  a  large 
share  of  the  local  officers.  The  question  of  how  to  disperse  the  ap 
pointing  power,  and  yet  preserve  accountability  to  the  State,  was 
very  thoughtfully  considered  by  the  foremost  statesmen.  Its  solu 
tion  was  found  in  a  device  proposed  by  Daniel  D.  Tompkins,  which 
was  to  separate  the  power  of  appointment  from  the  power  of  re 
moval.  The  case  of  the  sheriff  excited  the  most  solicitude  and  was 
elaborately  discussed.  It  was  disposed  of  by  giving  the  election  to 
the  people  of  the  county,  but  reserving  to  the  State  the  power  of  re 
moval  for  cause,  to  be  exercised  by  the  Governor.  The  same  method 
was  applied  to  county  clerks. 

The  constitution  of  1846  extended  the  system  to  district  attor 
neys  and  coroners.  It  has  been  applied  by  constitutional  provision 
or  by  statute  to  many  other  cases,  and  is  now  in  operation  as  to  the 
principal  officers  of  the  counties,  probably  embracing  five  hundred 
in  number.  A  procedure  has  grown  up  in  the  nature  of  a  summary 
trial. 

The  convention  of  1846  carried  much  further  its  dispersion  of  the 
power  of  choosing  local  officers.  It  even  allowed  an  election  by  dis 
tricts  of  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  having  general  State  jurisdic 
tion,  but  it  provided  that  they  should  be  removable  by  impeachment, 
and  also  by  the  two  Houses  of  the  Legislature.  County  judges,  sur 
rogates,  and  all  other  judicial  officers  elected  within  the  county,  and 
all  commissioned,  officers  of  the  militia  who  are  elective,  were  made 
removable  by-  the  Governor  and  Senate.  Indeed,  it  is  a  characteris 
tic  peculiarity  of  the  present  constitution  to  distinguish  between  the 
power  of  electing  or  appointing  an  officer  and  the  power  of  holding 
him  to  an  account.  In  the  words  of  my  annual  message:  "It  is 
while  dispersing  the  one  to  the  localities,  to  reserve  the  other  to  the 
State,  acting  by  its  general  representatives  and  as  a  unit ;  to  retain  in 
the  collective  State  a  supervisory  pow-er  of  removal,  in  addition  to 


233  THE   LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

whatever  other  accountability  may  result  to  the  voters  or  authorities 
of  the  locality  from  the  power  to  change  the  officer  at  the  expiration 
of  his  term,  or  from  special  provisions  of  law.  The  two  ideas  are  not 
incompatible;  on  the  contrary,  each  is  the  complement  of  the  other. 
Such  dispersion  of  the  appointing  power  has  become  possible  only 
because  these  devices  have  been  invented  to  preserve  accountability 
to  the  State." 

Through  all  our  constitutional  history  the  tendency  has  been  to 
enlarge  the  power  of  localities  in  the  management  of  such  local 
affairs  as  are  usually  intrusted  to  their  administration. 

This  policy  has  been  developed  not  merely  by  conferring  the  power 
of  local  election,  or  of  appointment  by  local  authority  of  the  officers 
on  whom  the  duties  of  local  administration  are  conferred,  but  also  by 
the  gradual  enlargement  of  those  duties. 

ITS  PRINCIPLE. 

The  political  philosophy  which  has  inspired  this  policy  is  founded 
on  the  theory  that  the  individual  is  the  best  judge  of  whatever  con 
cerns  himself  exclusively.  It  aims  to  enlarge  the  domain  of  the  indi 
vidual  conscience  and  judgment  as  much  as  practicable,  and  to  limit 
and  simplify  the  action  of  the  government  in  the  affairs  of  individu 
als.  A  deduction  from  this  philosophy  is  that,  where  individuals  are 
associated  in  a  city,  or  incorporated  village,  or  even  in  those  subdi 
visions  of  the  State  that  are  termed  in  the  law  quasi  corporations, 
there  are  certain  powers  of  administration,  mainly  concerning  the  in 
dividuals  so  associated,  which  may  be  safely  intrusted  to  their  man 
agement  under  a  proper  organism,  and  in  which  they  will  be  the  best 
judges  of  the  measures  most  wise  and  most  adapted  to  their  actual 
condition.  The  development  of  this  system  belongs  to  the  sphere  of 
practical  government,  and  is  to  be  worked  out  progressively. 

Of  the  general  truth  of  the  theory  and  of  the  wisdom  of  this 
system,  I  entertain  no  doubt;  and  I  have  always  endeavored  to  pro 
mote  its  wise  application,  and  to  try,  by  its  principles,  the  measures 
which  have  been  presented  in  its  name. 

ITS    CONDITIONS. 

The  essential  conditions  of  local  self-government  or  home-rule  in 
respect  to  those  powers  of  administration  which  are  intrusted  to  the 
locality  are : 

1.  That  there  be  an  organism  under  which  the  elective  power  of 


THE   GOVERNMENT   OF  MUNICIPALITIES.  233 

the  people  can  act  conveniently  and  effectively,  and  can  exercise  an 
actual  control  at  one  election  over  those  who  represent  it  in  the  local 
administration. 

.  2.  That,  in  voting  upon  the  administration  of  local  affairs,  the 
po'pular  attention  and  the  popular  will  be  freed,  as  far  as  possible, 
from  disturbing  elements,  especially  from  complications  with  State 
and  national  politics. 

The  ancient  system  which  exists  in  the  country,  and  worked  well 
in  'New  York  for  a  generation,  by  which  municipal  elections  were 
held  at  a  time  intermediate  of  the  annual  State  and  national  elections, 
has  always  commended  itself  to  my  judgment  as  of  great  utility  and 
value. 

3.  That  the  -popular  will,  as  declared  at  the  elections,  should  be 
protected,  as  far  as  possible,  from  the  effects  of  undue  concentration 
of  power,  patronage,  and  the  means  of  corrupt  influence. 

4.  That  while  the  responsibility  of  public  officers  to  the  voting 
citizens  be  made  effective,  and  they  be  made  amenable  to  the  tax 
payers  of   the  locality  through  the  courts,    accountability  to  the 
State  be  preserved  through  regular  methods,  so  that  the  existence  of 
such  appeal  of  the  minority  and  of  individuals  against  the  wrongs 
of  governing  officials  will  render  unnecessary  and  inexcusable  the 
frequent  legislative  interventions  which  have  practically  destroyed 
all  self-government,  created  more  local  mischief  than  they  have 
remedied,  and  have  grown  to  be  prolific  of  abuse  and  corruption  in 
the  legislative  bodies. 

So  far  from  official  •  accountability  in  regular  forms  being  an 
abridgment  of  local  self-government,  it  is  the  foundation  on  which 
this  system  can  alone  be  built  up.  Arbitrary  or  irresponsible  power 
finds  no  place  in  our  popular  system  of  government.  The  public 
officers  are  the  trustees  of  the  people.  The  majority  are  trustees  for 
the  whole,  for  the  minority,  and  for  each  individual. 

At  the  present  time  the  Senate  and  Assembly,  and  the  Governor, 
are  largely  occupied  by  attention  to  measures  which  are  in  the  nature 
of  appeals  from  the  local  administrative  officials.  Legislation  is  daily 
asked  for,  not  merely  for  the  purpose  of  enlarging  or  modifying  the 
powers  of  those  officials  according  to  the  local  wants,  but  for  over 
ruling  their  judgment,  correcting  their  errors,  and  redressing  their 
wrongs.  The  granting  or  refusing  of  such  legislation  often  involves 
questions  of  extreme  difficulty,  to  investigate  and  decide  the  merits 
of  which  is  quite  beyond  the  power  of  the  legislative  bodies,  or  the 


234  THE   LIFE   OF   SAMUEL   J.  TILDEN. 

Governor,  especially  in  the  multitude  of  topics  that  accumulate  in 
the  closing  weeks  of  the  session. 

EXPERIENCE    OF   THE    METROPOLIS. 

The  most  instructive  chapter  on  the  subject  of  municipal  govern 
ment  which  is  to  be  found  in  our  civic  history,  is  the  experience  of 
our  great  metropolis,  which  stands  so  conspicuous,  not  only  in  this 
State  but  throughout  the  Union  and  before  the  world. 

As  great  cities  are  rapidly  growing  up  in  other  parts  of  the  State, 
we  may  study  that  experience  with  advantage.  Anterior  to  the 
constitution  of  1846  the  practical  governing  population  of  this  State 
was  agricultural.  Comparatively  little  attention  had  been  paid  to 
municipal  government.  In  that  instrument,  while  county  and  town 
systems  received  comparative  protection,  the  charters  of  cities  and 
incorporated  villages  were  left  almost  absolutely  within  the  control 
of  the  Legislature. 

CHARTER    OF    1830. 

The  city  of  New  York  had  gone  on  under  a  simple,  popular  gov 
ernment  which  had  many  elements  of  great  value.  Substantially,  the 
administration  was  conducted  by  the  mayor,  and  two  boards  of  the 
Common  Council,  their  committees,  and  the  officers  appointed  by  them. 
The  elections  were  separate,  in  the  spring  of  the  year,  and  were  an 
nual.  Popular  opinion  easily  became  effectual  in  controlling  the 
policy  of  government.  A  political  revolution  was  frequently  pro 
duced  by  the  charge  of  excessive  expenditure  on  the  part  of  the  city 
government.  The  liability  to  change,  the  exposure  to  publicity,  made 
any  elaborate  and  prolonged  plans  of  plunder  unsafe,  if  not  impos 
sible. 

It  is  not  meant  that  the  deterioration  that  afterward  ensued  is  to 
be  ascribed  wholly  to  the  new  methods  of  government  adopted. 

INJURIOUS    CHANGES. 

Doubtless  important  changes  have -occurred  in  the  conditions  under 
which  the  municipal  government  is  carried  on.  Changes  in  the  popu 
lation—a  loss  of  the  habit  of  acting  in  city  affairs,  resulting  from  the 
inability  to  act  with  effect  during  twenty  years  in  which  the  elective 
power  of  the  people  has  been  nugatory — decay  of  civic  training, 
forced  exclusion  and  voluntary  withdrawal  from  participation  in 
local  government  for  a  generation — the  absorption  of  the  public  at- 


THE   GOVERNMENT   OF  MUNICIPALITIES.  235 

• 

tention  in  the  controversies  of  national  politics,  leading  to  an  almost 
total  neglect  of  the  questions  of  administration  on  which  the  compe 
titions  of  politics  formerly  turned — the  vast  disproportion  in  the 
numerical  strength  of  parties  formed  on  sectional  questions :  these 
are  causes  which  make  the  machinery  of  popular  government  work 
less  favorably  than  before. 

But  it  cannot  be  doubted  that  various  changes,  originating  in  a 
false  theory  of  government  and  continuing  through  a  series  of  years, 
by  which  the  legislative  power  was  very  much  weakened,  and  the 
spending  officers  became  not  only  exempt  from  any  regulation  by  the 
legislative  bodies  and  practically  irresponsible,  but  by  means  of  their 
patronage  acquired  practical  control  in  the  government,  and  a  com 
plexity  of  system  by  which  the  elective  power  of  the  people  became 
ineffectual — were  steps  in  a  downward  progress. 

INTERFERENCE    WITH    LOCAL   GOVERNMENT. 

The  abuses  and  wrongs  of  the  local  administration  which  found 
no  redress  generated  a  public  opinion  under  which  appeals  were 
made,  in  the  name  of  reform,  for  relief  to  the  legislative  power  at 
Albany ;  and  it  was  found  that  an  act  could  be  'easily  contrived 
whereby  one  official  could  be  expelled  from  office,  and,  by  some  de 
vice,  a  substitute  put  in  his  place.  It  was  found  likewise  that  the 
powers  of  an  office  could  be  withdrawn  and  vested  in  a  different 
officer  or  in  a  commission,  the  selection  of  which  could  be  dictated 
from  the  State  capital. 

It  is  the  experience  of  human  government  that  abuses  of  power 
follow  power  wherever  it  goes,.  What  was  at  first  done,  apparently 
at  least,  to  protect  the  rights  of  the  minority  or  of  individuals,  what 
was  first  done  for  the  sake  of  good  government,  came  in  a  little  time 
to  be  done  for  the  purposes  of  interested  individuals  or  cliques.  Dif 
fering  in  politics  as  city  and  State  did,  party  selfishness  and  ambition 
grasped  at  patronage  and  power,  and  the  great  municipal  trust  came 
to  be  the  traffic  of  the  lobbies.  Institutions  wholly  unfit  to  answer  ' 
any  use  or  object  of  government  in  a  civilized  community,  and  by 
virtue  of  their  structure  capable  of  nothing  but  abuses  growing  into 
crimes  against  the  communities  in  which  they  existed,  such  as  the 
board  of  supervisors,  erected  in  1857,  came  into  existence  under  the 
motive  power  of  the  division  of  the  spoils  which  they  partitioned 
between  their  contrivers,  combining  equal  numbers  from  both  par 
ties. 


236  THE  LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

4 

CHAETEE    OF    1870. 

The  consummation  of  this  deceptive  system  was  in  the  charter  of 
1870,  which  was  enacted  in  the  name  and  under  the  pretense  of  re 
storing  local  self-government.  It  was  a  long  document,  full  of  minute 
regulations,  copied  from  preceding  laws;  but  its  vital  force  and  real 
object  resided  in  a  few  sentences.  It  totally  stripped  the  elective 
councils  of  all  legislative  power,  and  covered  up  that  design  by  sev 
eral  pages,  in  which  it  enumerated  ordinances  the  councils  had,  from 
time  immemorial,  power  to  establish,  but  which  had. never  been 
thought  worthy  of  mention  in  any  previous  act  of  legislation. 

It  practically  vested  all  legislative  power  in  the  Mayor,  Comptroller, 
Commissioner  of  Public  Works  and  the  Commissioner  of  Parks.  It 
vacated  the  offices  of  the  existing  incumbents  at  the  end  of  five  days, 
and.  provided  for  the  appointment  of  their  successors  by  the  then 
existing  mayor,  who  was  one  of  the  quartet.  Every  device  to  make 
these  four  officers  totally  irresponsible  was  carefully  adopted.  The 
existing  law,  which  had  stood  for  many  years,  by  which  the  mayor, 
Comptroller  and  Street  Commissioner  had  been  removable  by  the  Gov 
ernor,  as  in  the  case  of  sheriffs,  was  repealed.  A  restoration  of  that 
power  of  removal,  as  regards  the  mayor,  was  demanded  in  the  follow 
ing  year,  and  in  1873  was  accorded,  with  the  unanimous  consent  of 
both  political  parties. 

This  charter,  which  practically  put  in  abeyance  the  elective  power 
of  the  people  of  the  city  of  New  York  for  years,  and  set  up  an 
oligarchy  of  four  persons,  who,  aided  by  a  subsequent  amendment, 
had  all  powers  of  expenditure  and  taxation — of  legislation  and  admin 
istration  over  a  million  people — was  enacted  under  the  pretense  of 
restoring  local  self-government.  It  was  objected  at  the  time  that 
those  officers  so  appointed  were,  to  all  practical  intents  and  purposes, 
a  commission,  just  as  under  the  system  which  was  to  be  abolished ; 
that  they  were  in  effect  as  much  appointed  by  the  State  Legislature  as 
as  if  their  names  had  been  inserted  in  the  law ;  and  that  the  elective 
power  of  the  people  was  annulled,  and  rulers  set  over  them  without 
their  consent. 

How  unanimously  that  charter  passed — by  what  barter  of  the 
municipal  -trusts  and  corrupt  use  of  municipal  money — and  how, 
within  a. month,  the  officers  placed  by  a  legislative  act,  without  the 
intervention  of  a  new  election,  in  supreme  dominion  over  a  million  of 
our  people,  divided  up  four  millions  of  a  pretended  audit  of  six 
millions — are  now  matters  of  history.  These  were  the  fruits,  not  of 


THE   GOVERNMENT  OF  MUNICIPALITIES.'  237 

a  popular  election,  not  of  local  self-government,  but  of  the  culmina 
tion  of  a  system  under  which  the  governing  officials  had  been  practi 
cally  appointed  by  legislative  acts  of  the  State.  The  device  of  creat 
ing  a  special  appointing  power  to  do  what  was  desired  by  a  clique  or 
party,  or  was  agreed  upon  beforehand,  was  not  perfectly  new.  It 
had  been  frequently  used  in  a  smaller  way. 

The  contagion  of  such  practices  threatens  to  extend  to  other  cities. 
If  public  opinion  and  the  state  of  the  constitution  and  laws  allow  it, 
the  temptation  to  transfer  the  contest  for  offices  from  the  local  elec 
tions  to  the  legislative  halls  will  arise  as  often  as  aspirants  are  de 
feated  and  can  expect  to  recover  there  what  they  have  lost  at  home. 
There  is  no  remedy  but  in  the  refusal  to  give  to  such  devices  the 
sanction  of  law,  until  constitutional  provisions  shall  give  permanency 
to  the  methods  of  appointment  and  removal  in  municipal  governments. 

1873.' 

The  charter  of  1878,  while  it  contains  many  provisions  that  are 
valuable,  still  leaves  to  the  heads  of  departments  the  power  to  create 
officers  and  fix  their  salaries,  which  no  one  has  ever  thought  of  con 
ferring  on  the  Governor  or  the  Comptroller  of  the  State,  who  are 
properly  subject  to  the  specific  and  minute  regulations  of  law  ;  and  it 
leaves  all  the  power  of  levying  taxes,  spending  money,  contracting 
debt  to  a  large  extent,  and  all  the  powers  of  legislation  in  the  hands 
of  the  Mayor,  Comptroller,  President  of  the  Board  of  Aldermen  and 
the  President  of  the  Department  of  Taxes. 

In  the  hands  of  every  one  of  the  present  incumbents,  we  have  the 
satisfaction  to  believe  that  the  interests  of  the  people  are  perfectly 
secure;  but  we  ought  to  consider  what  manner  of  institutions  shall 
be  formed  for  the  long  future,  with  its  varied  changes  of  official  per 
sons — whether  we  will  continue  such  vast  powers  having  no  parallel 
in  any  government. 

The  charter  of  1873  sought  to  shun  the  defect  of  the  charter  of 
1870  in  respect  to  removal.  It  restored  the  power  of  the  removal  of 
the  mayor  by  the  Governor.  It  provided  for  the  removal  of  heads 
of  departments  by  the  mayor,  subject  to  the  written  approval  of  the 
Governor,  thus  establishing  an  artificial  check  upon  an  artificial  sys 
tem ;  aiming  to  secure  independence  except  in  case  of  official  miscon 
duct  on  the  part  of  the  members  of  the  body  on  which  it  conferred 
such  extraordinary  powers  ;  and  shrinking  from  converting  an  oligar 
chical  into  a  despotic  system. 


238  THE  LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

At  the  present  session,  various  propositions  have  been  introduced, 
and  others  have  been  suggested,  for  changing  the  powers  and  patron 
age  of  the  city  government.  None  of  them  have  come  before  me  for 
official  action.  No  comprehensive  or  well-considered  system  has 
been  proposed.  Hasty  and  partial  changes  by  law,  which,  however 
plausible  on  their  face,  cannot  be  judged  of  except  through  an  ac 
quaintance  with  the  whole  mass  of  preceding  legislation  upon  which 
they  operate,  and  likely  to  produce  results  not  foreseen  by  their  au 
thors,  were  not  desirable. 

In  the  better  times  of  government  and  legislation  in  this  State, 
when  the  traditions  of  popular  rights  were  respected,  the  formation 
of  a  charter  for  a  great  city  was  a  matter  of  deliberation.  The  people 
to  be  affected  were  fully  consulted.  Generally  a  convention  of  their 
representatives  was  held  to  consider  the  matter,  full  opportunity  was 
given  to  discuss  and  perfect  so  important  an  instrument.  The  people 
were  allowed  to  elect  their  chief  officers  with  a  knowledge  before 
hand  of  the  substantial  nature  of  the  powers  these  officers  would  ex 
ercise.  The  idea  of  working  a  total  revolution  in  the  depositaries-  of 
governmental  powers,  by  a  legislative  act,  without  the  intervention 
of  an  election  that  should  allow  the  people  to  say  on  whom  new  and 
vast  powers  should  be  conferred,  would  have  been  treated  as  a  gross 
invasion  of  the  rights  of  the  people. 

Even  in  restoring  the  legislative  power  to  a  legislative  department 
of  the  city  government,  the  new  Legislature  ought  to  be  formed  ac 
cording  to  the  best  traditions  and  the  best  experience  of  American 
government ;  and  the  people  ought  to  be  allowed  to  choose  it  at  a 
fresh  election,  and  in  contemplation  of  the  new  powers  conferred 
which  amount  to  a  new  creation. 

I  am  not  inclined  to  tamper  by  inconsiderate  and  fragmentary 
legislation  with  the  government  of  the  metropolis,  or  of  the  other 
great  cities  of  the  State,  but  I  feel  profoundly  the  necessity  of  atten 
tion  to  the  structure,  power,  and  duties  of  those  governments ;  and 
when  we  do  constitute  a  new  system  I  am  anxious  that  it  should  an 
swer  the  just  expectations  of  the  people.  .There  is  no  subject  which 
to-day  interests  them  more  deeply ;  no  subject  more  complicated  or 
more  difficult  of  solution  ;  none  which  requires  more  thoughtful  at 
tention,  more  thorough  discussion,  to  mature  results  with  which  we 
shall  be  satisfied  in  future  years.  There  is  no  case  in  which  it  is 
more  your  duty  and  mine  to  say  to  those  who  seek  changes  :  "  You 
must  found  your  claim  to  the  advantages  of  political  and  official 


THE   GOVERNMENT   OF  MUNICIPALITIES.  239 

power  upon  the  best  promise  of  good  government  in  the  nature  of 
the  institutions  you  propose.  You  must  accept  official  accountability 
as  a  condition  of  official  trust." 

I  have  set  forth  some  of  the  evils  which  have  followed  the  viola 
tion  of  sound  principles  of  government  in  the  city  of  New  York,  not 
only  to  show  the  wrongs  to  which  the  people  of  that  municipality 
have  been  subjected,  but  also  to  illustrate  the  dangers  which  threaten 
other  cities,  unjess  we  can  fix  sound  principles  in  the  minds  of  our 
people  and  make  them  operative  in  the  legislative  bodies  or  intrench 
them  in  the  constitution. 

The  people  comprised  in  the  cities  of  the  State,  exclusive  of  New 
York,  are  to-day  more  numerous  than  the  inhabitants  of  the  metropo 
lis.  They  form  a  larger  portion  of  the  population  of  the  State. 
This  is  exclusive  of  the  incorporated  villages. 

If  local  self-government  or  home-rule  is  to  be  secured  to  them, 
and  they  are  to  be  protected  from  the  abuses  which  naturally  hap 
pened  earlier  in  New  York,  it  must  be  done  by  the  establishment 
of  a  general  system,  which  shall  be  respected  by  the  people  and  by 
their  representatives.  The  Legislature  is  burdened  by  numerous  ap 
plications  for  changes  in  local  laws,  the  operation  of  which  on  the 
preexisting  mass  of  legislation  cannot  be  easily  ascertained.  This 
obscurity  is  often  a  cover  under  which  the  objects  of  selfish  indi 
viduals--  or'  cliques,  or  partisan  purposes,  are  concealed.  Every  revo 
lution  of  politics  in  the  locality  or  in  the  State  is  followed  by  efforts 
to  change  the  governing  power  or  to  effect  a  new  disposal  of  offices 
and  patronage  in  the  locality.  Such  demoralizing  efforts  could  not 
be  readily  effectual  if  well-defined  principles  of  government  pervaded 
all  municipal  charters.  Diversities  will  no  doubt  continue  to  be  un 
avoidable,  but  the  advantages  of  general  laws  over  special  legislation, 
now  recognized  in  our  political  theories  and  maxims,  should  be  ex 
tended,  as  far  as  practicable,  to  our  city  governments.  Whatever 
can  be  accomplished  by  legislation  to  correct  the  evils  growing  out  of 
the  discordant  charters  which  now  exist,  and  to  infuse  into  them 
general  principles  that  shall  become  a  guide  to  future  legislation, 
ought  to  be  done.  But  the  only  effectual  remedy  is  in  amendment 
of  the  constitution  fixing  the  general  plan  of  municipal  government, 
especially  in  respect  to  the  appointing  power,  and  at  the  same  time 
establishing  on  a  durable  basis  official  accountability. 

With  a  view  of  calling  public  attention  to  this  subject  and  of  lay 
ing  the  foundation  of  a  plan  of  legislation  and  of  constitutional 


240  THE  LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.   TILDEN. 

amendment  I  recommend  the  appointment  of  a  commission  who 
shall  report  to  the  next  Legislature  the  forms  of  such  laws  or  consti 
tutional  amendments  as  are  required.  If  you  do  not  think  it  advisa 
ble  to  constitute  such  a  commission,  the  revisers  of  the  statutes  might 
be  instructed  to  collate  and  report  upon  the  condition  of  the  laws 
relating  to  the  cities  in  aid  of  future  action  by  legislation  or  constitu 
tional  amendment. 

SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

The  commission  which  the  Governor  recommended  was 
duly  authorized  and  appointed.  It  embraces  some  of  the 
leading  men  of  both  parties  in  the  State  of  New  York.  Its 
preliminary  report  indicates  that  its  final  work  will  be  of 
large  value  not  only  to  the  people  of  the  State  but  of  the 
whole  country,  for  the  problems  which  it  seeks  to  solve  en 
gage  the  attention  of  all  States. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

SECOND   ANNUAL   MESSAGE. 1876. 

ATTENTION  has  already  been  directed  to  the  fact  that  both 
branches  of  the  New  York  Legislature  in  1876  were  under 
the  control  of  the  Republicans,  and  that  many  leading  repre 
sentatives  of  the  majority  were  not  at  all  inclined  to  treat  him 
in  a  friendly  spirit.  His  annual  message  was  looked  for  with 
even  more  interest  than  in  the  preceding  year.  It  treats 
largely  of  national  questions,  and,  in  dealing  with  affairs  in 
the  State  of  New  York,  it  conveys  much  information'  of  gen 
eral  interest.  It  was  communicated  to  the  Legislature  on 
January  4th,  and  is  herewith  appended : 

STATE  OF  NEW  YORK,  EXECUTIVE  CHAMBER,  ) 
ALBANY,  January  4,  1876.  j 

To  the  Legislature  : 

The  annual  meeting  of  the  Legislative  Assemblies,  at  the  beginning 
of  the  new  year,  finds  the  people' of  this  Commonwealth  in  the  enjoy 
ment  of  blessings  which  ought  to  fill  us  with  reverent  thankfulness 
to  Him  from  whom  cometh  every  good  and  perfect  gift.  Whatever 
the  earth  could  yield  to  the  labor  of  man,  under  the  fructifying  and 
genial  forces  of  Nature,  we  have  garnered.  Health,  peace,  and  do 
mestic  tranquillity  have  been  ours.  Capacities  to  produce  in.  largest 
abundance  and  with  least  sacrifice,  or  to  acquire  by  exchange  through 
the  best  natural  and  artificial  machinery  of  transport  and  travel,  all 
things  which  minister  to  material  well-being,  to  the  prosperity  and 
wealth  of  a  State,  and  to  the  comfort  and  felicity  of  its  individual 
members,  have  been  and  are  subject  to  our  use. 

It  was  early  discovered  that  New  York  possessed  within  her  ter 
ritory  the  natural  passes  of  military  operations,  which,  in  the  wars 
for  colonial  existence  and  for  national  independence,  cross-tracked 
11 


243  THE   LIFE   OF  SAMUEL   J.  TILDEN. 

our  soil  with  fire  and  blood.  Our  territory  was  also  found,  on  the 
later  development  of  the  national  growth,  to  occupy  the  natural  thor 
oughfares  of -travel  and  traffic.  It  touches  the  ocean  with  a  harbor 
ever  open,  accessible,  and  safe,  close  by  whose  gates  the  ocean-cur 
rents  compel  to  pass  nearly  all  transatlantic  navigation  to  and  from 
this  country.  It  connects  that  harbor  and  the  tranquil  Hudson  on 
the  north  with  Lake  Champlain  and  the  Canadas ;  and  on  the  west, 
by  a  level  crossing  the  bases  of  the  mountain-ranges  that  traverse  the 
continent,  with  Lake  Erie  and  its  chain  of  great  inland  seas,  bordered 
by  rising  commonwealths,  which  are  the  marvels  of  modern  times. 

We  are,  with  our  fellow-citizens  of  the  other  States,  joint  inher 
itors  of  a  system  of  government — the  selected  product  of  the  oldest 
existing  civilization — formed  according  to  the  best  ideals  evolved 
from  human  experience,  but  freed  from  the  overgrowth  of  habits  and 
interests  elsewhere  incident  to  such  experience ;  and  planted  in  the 
virgin  soil  of  an  unoccupied  continent,  abounding  in  all  the  gifts  of 
Nature.  Our  population,  by  the  census  just  taken,  is  near  four  and 
three-quarter  millions.  Our  annual  product  of  agriculture  is  still 
greater  than  that  of  any  of  our  young  rivals,  whom  we  contemplate 
with  admiring  pride  as  in  part  the  creations  of  our  policy  and  the 
swarming  homes  of  our  own  children.  Our  domestic  manufactures  are 
larger  than  those  of  any  other  State.  Our  foreign  commerce  is  once 
and  a  half  that  of  all  the  rest  of  the  Union. 

Common-schools,  in  which  are  taught  a  million  of  youths,  and 
seminaries  of  higher  learning,  are  training  our  successors  to  improve 
on  whatever  they  can  inherit  from  the  present  generation.  Institu 
tions  of  charity  dispense  everywhere  their  benefactions ;  and  the  sur 
face  of  our  whole  domain  is  dotted  thickly  by  edifices  whose  spires 
point  to  heaven. 

If,  on  this  fair'  picture,  there  are  spots  that  indicate  a  recent 
prevalence  of  private  waste  or  folly,  or  that  disclose  evils  or  wrongs 
by  government,  resulting  in  much  temporary  distress,  let  us  remem 
ber  with  humility  that  we  have  been  in  part  the  authors  of  what  we 
deplore,  or,  at  least,  consenting  witnesses ;  and  let  us  be  grateful  that 
we  can  reform  what  is  amiss  ;  and  that,  to  our  hands,  under  God,  is 
committed  our  own  future. 

DEBTS   OF   THE   STATE. 

The  nominal  amount  of  the  debts  of  the  State,  as  they  appear  on 
the  books  of  the  Comptroller,  without  deducting  the  sinking-funds 


SECOND  ANNUAL   MESSAGE.  243 

applicable  to  their  payment  on  the  30th  of  September,  1875,  the  close 
of  the  last  fiscal  year,  was  $28,328,686.40,  classified  as  follows  : 

General  fund $3,119,526  40 

Contingent 68,000  00 

Canal 10,086,66000 

Bounty 15,054,500  00 


Total $28,328,686  40 

THE   SINKING-FUNDS. 

The  amount  of  those  debts,  on  the  30th  of  September,  1875,  after 
deducting  the  assets  in  the  sinking-funds  at  that  time  applicable  to 
their  payment,  is  exhibited  by  the  following  statement,  furnished  by 
the  Comptroller : 

DEBT.  SINKING-FUND.  BALANCE. 

September  30, 18T5.  September  30, 1ST5. 

General  fund....    .$3,119,526  40  $3,029,50570  $89,92070 

Contingent 68,000  00  36,677  64  31,322  '36 

Canal 10,086,66000  1,448,34551  8,638,31459 

Bounty 15,054,50000  1 9,066,753  29  5,987,74671 


Totals ; .  $28,328,686  40-          $13,581,382  14  $14,747,304  26 

The  actual  reduction,  during  the  year,  of  the  debts  by  cancellation 
of  matured  stocks,  and  by  the  purchase  of  $858,000  of  the  bounty 
loan  for  the  sinking-fund,  is  $1,870,770. 

The  diminution,  during  the  year,  of  the  debt,  after  deducting  the 
assets  of  the  sinking-fund,  is  $2',744,505.06. 

THE    BOUNTY  DEBT. 

But  even  this  exhibit  does  not  completely  show  the  situation  of 
the  sinking-funds  as  we  are  to  deal  with  them  in  the  legislation  of 
your  present  session.  The  appropriations  made  at  the  last  session  be 
came  operative  on  the  1st  of  October,  1875.  The  taxies  levied  for  the 
fiscal  year,  beginning  on  that  day,  are  in  process  of  collection. 

The  appropriation  for  the  bounty  debt  sinking-fund  was  $4,260,- 
000.  If  that  sum  be  deducted  from  the  balance  of  $5,987,746.71,  as 
shown  in  the  table  for  the  30th  September,  1875,  there  would  remain 
but  $1,727,746.71  to  be  provided  for  by  your  legislation. 

1  Deducting  interest  accrued  to  October  1, 1875,  payable  January  1, 1876. 


244  .         THE   LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

The  near  approach  of  the  extinction  of  the  bounty  debt  suggests 
a  retrospect.  If  it  had  been  a  necessary  condition  to  a  restored 
Union,  our  people  would  not  count  its  cost.  But  it  was  essentially  an 
after-war  adjustment,  and,  if  the  criticism  of  the  Comptroller,  in  his 
report  of  1875,  be  just,  that  though  created  "  nominally  to  pay  boun 
ties  to  the  volunteer  soldiers,  who  enlisted  in  the  service  of  the 
United  States  during  the  rebellion,  but  only  an  inconsiderable  part  of 
this  sum  is  supposed  to  have  reached  the  soldiers,  who  were  actually 
engaged  in  the  contest,"  the  experience  would  be  chiefly  useful  in  il 
lustrating  the  magnificent  costliness  of  improvident  debt.  The  appro 
priation  for  it  in  the  last  ten  years  amounts  to  $39,983,862.97,  and 
interest  .would  swell  the  present  cost,  to  at  least  $50,000,000.  When 
the  appropriation  of  the  present  year  shall  be  added,  the  people  of 
this  State  may  be  congratulated  on  its  extinction. 

CANAL    DEBT. 

The  appropriation  at  the  last  session,  for  that  portion  of  the  canal 
debt  known  as  the  floating  canal  debt,  was  $266,000,  which  will 
complete  its  payment  and  leave  a  small  surplus  in  the  sinking-fund. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  sinking-fund  for  the  canal  debt  proper 
will  fail  to  derive  from  the  revenues  of  the  canals  the  whole  amount 
of  the  installment  required,  and  a  deficiency  of  $625,610.70  will 
have  to  be  supplied. 

WHOLE    AMOUNT    OF   DEBTS. 

The  application  of  the  sums  appropriated  from  taxes,  now  in 
process  of  collection,  would  reduce  the  State  debts  to  about  ten  and 
one-quarter  millions  of  dollars,  exclusive  of  accruing  interest. 

Another  observation  ought  to  be  made  in  respect  to  the  sinking- 
funds.  Nearly  $1,200,000  of  the  assets  consist  of  premiums  on  its. 
stocks  at  cost  or  at  present  market  rates. 

It  is  clear  that  the  operations  of  the  sinking-funds  should  be  re 
vised.  The  best  investment,  certainly  the  safest,  for  a  State  as  for  an 
individual,  is  in  the  payment  of  its  own  debts,-  if  that  be  possible  on 
reasonable  terms.  Individuals  seldom  find  easy  credit  anything  but 
a  snare ;  States  never.  A  large  mass  of  cash  on  hand,  even  if  in 
sinking-funds,  tempts  to  improvident  expenditure  and  to  illegitimate 
use. 

CONSTITUTIONAL   EESTEICTIONS    ON   PUBLIC    DEBTS. 

Thirty  years  ago,  in  June,  the  convention  sat  which  formed  our 
present  constitution.  It  was  called  into  being  chiefly  to  impose  re- 


SECOND  ANNUAL   MESSAGE.  .  £45 

straints  on  the  power  of  the  government  of  this  State  to  contract 
debts.  The  purpose  of  the  people  to  establish  these  guards  against 
their  agents  was  the  result  of  years  of  animated  discussion.  The 
restraints  were  carefully  devised.  They  have  been  useful,  and,  in  the 
main,  effectual.  In  1846  our  State  debts  were  nearly  $24,000,000. 
In  1876  they  will  be  reduced  to  $10,250,000. 

The  convention  considered  plans  for  applying  such  restrictions  to 
all  municipal  bodies  and  local  governing  officials.  They  did  not  feel 
able,  in  the  period  of  their  session,  to  mature  satisfactory  provisions. 
They  devolved  the  duty  on  the  Legislature,  commanding  its  per 
formance.  Their  injunction  has  been  unexecuted,  and  in  1876  the 
city  of  New  York  has  a  debt  of  $122,000,000,  after  deducting  its 
sinking-funds,  against  a  debt  of  less  than  $14,000,000  in  1846.  The 
other  cities  of  the  State  owe  $60,000,000,  and  many  counties  and 
towns  are  also  largely  burdened. 

Sole  surviving  member  of  the  committee  which  prepared  the 
constitutional  restrictions  on  the  creation  of  State  debts,  I  might  be 
permitted,  in  honor  of  the  illustrious  dead,  to  trace  the  moral  our 
experience  has  since  proved  of  the  utility  of  their  work;  but  I  have 
recounted  the  results  to  show  that  the  policy  was  then,  and  is  now, 
absolutely  necessary  to  the  safety  of  the  people  in  all  State  and  local 
governments. 

TAXES   FOE   STATE   PURPOSES   IN   1874. 

The  taxes  levied  by  the  Legislature  of  1874  were  7J  mills  on  a 
valuation  of  $2,169,307,873.  Their  produce,  when  all  realized,  is 

$15,727,482.08. 

IN   1875. 

The  taxes  levied  by  the  Legislature  of  1875  were  6  mills.  They 
were  computed  in  the  Comptroller's  office  and  in  the  legislative 
committees  on  the  valuation  of  the  previous  year.  On  that  basis 
their  produce  would  have  been  $13,015,847.24. 

THE   SEDUCTION. 

The  reduction  would  have  been  $2,711,634.84.  But  the  valua 
tion  was  increased  to  $2,367,780,102.  The  produce  of  a  six-mills 
tax  on  that  amount  is  $14,206,680.61.  The  increase  of  the  valuation 
gives  an  excess  over  the  estimated  amount  of  $1,190,833.37.  The 
reduction  actually  effected  is  $1,520,801.47. 

APPEOPEIATIONS    OF    1875. 

A  reduction  of  taxes,  without  reduction  in  appropriations,  would 


246 


THE   LIFE   OF  SAMUEL   J.   TILDEN. 


but  create  a  deficiency  and  a  floating  debt.  These  would  have  to  be 
paid  by  a  subsequent  increase  of  taxes.  The  appropriation  bills  were 
framed  to  correspond  with  the  lower  valuation,  and  much  effort  was 
made  to  keep  down  the  appropriations.  The  result  is  shown  in  the 
following  table : 

APPEOPEIATIONS   AND   TAXES    OF   1875    COMPAEED. 


i 

Appropriations 
of  1875. 

Tax  computed 
on  Valuation 
of  1874. 

Tax  computed 
on  Valuation 
of  1875. 

EXCESS. 

Schools 

11 

$0712000  00 

$2  711  634  84 

$2  950  7'?5  is 

$'74S090  20 

Bounty  debt  

9, 

4.260,000  00 

4.338  615  75 

4  735  560  20 

396944  45 

Capitol  

Canal  floating  debt  
Canal  awards 

! 

1,000,000  00 
266,000  00 
422  766  90 

1,084,653  94 
271,163  48 
433  861  57 

1,183,890  05 
295,972  51 
473  556  0° 

99,236  11 
24,809  03 
30  694  45 

General  purposes  
Deficiency  and  asylums.  . 

i| 
Hi 

2,986,825  00 
1,525,213  53 

2.982,71)8  83 
1,193,119  33 

3,255,697  64 
1,302,279  06 

272,899  31 
109,159  73 

Total  

$13,172,805  43 

$13,015,847  24 

$14,206,680  61 

$1,190,833  37 

Excess  of  appropriations  over  tax,  computed  on  valuation  of  1874 $156,958  19 

Excess  of  tax,  computed  on  the  valuation  of  1875,  over  tax  computed  on  valu 
ation  of  1874 $1,190,833  37 

Excess  of  tax,  computed  on  the  valuation  of  1875,  over  appropriations  of  1875.  $1,033,875  18 

The  reduction  in  the  appropriations  of  1875,  below  the  taxes  of 
1874— counting,  at  its  true  construction,  one  item  about  which  there 
may  be  some  doubt  —  is  $2,554,677.05.  This  leaves  the  sum  of 
$1,033,875.18  applicable  to  the  reduction  of  taxes  for  the  coming 
fiscal  year. 

REDUCTION  OF  APPROPRIATIONS  FROM  CANAL  REVENUES  OE  FUNDS. 

The  appropriations  for  ordinary  expenses  and  repairs  of  the  canals 
made  at  the  last  session  for  the  fiscal  year  beginning  October  1,  18-75, 
were  $1,109,150,  and  for  the  current  fiscal  year  a  special  contingent 
provision  of  $150,000,  making  $1,259,150.  The  like  appropriations 
made  at  the  session  of  1874  were  $1,424,510,  and  a  provision  for 
the  then  current  year  for  deficiencies  of  $250,000.  The  reduction  in 
1875,  as  compared  with  1874,  is  $415,360. 

The  canal  reappropriation  bill  in  1874  reappropriated  $917,319.63  ; 
that  of  1875  reappropriated  $340,079.19.  The  diminution  is  $577,- 
240.44. 

The  amount  raised  by  former  taxes  reclaimed  into  the  Treasury, 
by  striking  out  items  in  the  reappropriation  bill  of  1875,  'is  $67,- 
765.69. 


SECOND  ANNUAL   MESSAGE. 


247 


ITEMS    OF    EEDFCTIOX    OF    TAXES. 

The  objects  in  respect  to  which  a  reduction  of  taxes  was  effected, 


were : 


18T4. 

1875. 

REDUCTION. 

Extraordinary  canal-repairs 
Asylums  and  reformatory 

$1,898,144  39 
813,490  45 

None. 
$479,800  00 

$1,898,144  39 
333,690  45 

General  purposes 

4  189475  84 

3,696  117*  66 

493  358  18 

Total  

$2,725,193  02 

1.  In  respect  to  the  first  item,  the  memorandum  assigning  reasons 
for  withholding  the  Executive  sanction  from  the  bill  making  appro 
priations  for  extraordinary  repairs  to  the  canals,  contains  the  follow 
ing  observations : 

"The  budget  for  extraordinary  repairs,  as  originally  prepared, 
proposed-  an  expenditure  of  $1,400,000.  In  the  ordinary  course  of 
things,  the  additions,  which  would  have  been  made  to  it  during  its 
passage  through  the  two  Houses,  by  the  friends  of  local  objects  able 
to  influence  those  bodies,  would  probably  have  swollen  it  to  as  great 
a  magnitude  as  the  bill  of  last  year  for  the  same  purpose,  which 
amounted  in  tax  to  nearly  $1,900,000. 

"It  was  in  this  condition  of  things,  when  the  routine,  which  had 
become  so  firmly  established,  was  likely  to_  bring  for  my  action  bills 
which  could  not  be  totally  rejected,  and  perhaps  could  not  be  effect 
ually  altered,  and  which  would  practically  continue  the  existing  sys 
tems  of  canal  expenditure,  against  which  I  had  objected  in  my  annual 
message  and  invoked  retrenchment  and  reform,  that  I  felt  it  my  duty 
to  enter  upon  the  investigation  which  resulted  in  the  special  message 
of  March  19,  1875. 

"  The  discussion  which  ensued,  generated  a  spirit  in  the  legislative 
bodies,  and  among  the  people,  that  triumphed  over  and  broke  up  the 
routine,  hitherto  dominating,  and  which,  like  an  enchanted  ship, 
moving  onward  in  its  course  without  a  crew,  was  drifting  us  into  a 
repetition  of  all  improvidences,  abuses,  and  frauds,  so  long  infesting 
this  department  of  the  public  administration. 

"  The  results  of  this  discussion  will  be  found  in  a  reduction  of  the 
appropriations  for  the  expenses  of  collection,  superintendence,  and 
ordinary  repairs,  and  in  the  extinction  of  expenditures  for  extraordi 
nary  repairs." 

2.  The  reduction  in  the  second  item  was  the  result  of  a  policy 
adopted  by  the  finance  committees  of  the  two  Houses,  with  my  con 
currence,  of  confining  the  appropriations  to  such  sums  as  would  make 


248  THE   LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.   TILDEN. 

available  and  bring  into  use  the  portions  most  nearly  approaching 
completion  of  the  asylums  and  reformatory,  now' in  the  course  of  con 
struction.  The  appropriations  allowed  to  pass  conform,  in  the  main, 
to  that  plan. 

3.  The  memorandum  assigning  reasons  for  withholding  the  Exec 
utive  sanction  from  certain  items  of  the  supply  bill,  expressed  the  be 
lief  that  "with  the  reductions  made  in  the  legislative  bodies,  and  by 
the  refusal  of  the  Executive  sanction  to  items -and  bills  passed  by  the 
Legislature,  the  Expenditures  and  appropriations  ought  not  to  exceed 
the  taxes  levied,  and  the  reduction  of  taxes  will  be  a  clear  saving  to 
the  people."  It  added  that  "  the  failure  of  sundry  items  and  bills  to 
receive  the  Executive  sanction  will  reduce  the  appropriations'  as  fol 
lows."  And  it  enumerates  such  items  to  be  paid  by  taxes  amount 
ing  to $332,169 

And  items  stricken  out  which  reclaim  cash  to  the 

Treasury ; 67,7(55 

$399,934 
And  items  to  be  paid  out  of  canal  revenue $365,940 

The  failure  to  keep  the  appropriations  down  to  the  taxes  levied, 
on  former  occasions,  has  led  to  deficiencies  in  the  Treasury  and  float 
ing  debts  which  are  forbidden  by  the  constitution,  and  to  violations 
of  the  sinking-funds.  We  cannot  too  vigilantly  guard  against  a  re 
currence  of  these  evils,  or  insist  too  inflexibly  that  no  appropriation 
shall  be  made  until  the  means  of  paying  it  shall  have  been  provided. 

REDUCTION    OF    STATE    TAXES    FOE    1874    TO    ONE-HALF    THE    TAXES 

OF  1876. 

The  taxes  for  State  purposes  in  1874  were  7£  mills  on  a 

valuation  of  $2,169,307,873,  producing $15,727,482  08 

The  taxes  for  State  purposes  in  1876,  if  reduced  to  3-$$fr 
mills  on  the  valuation  of  1874,  or  3-ffifo  mills  on  the 
valuation  of  1875,  which  is  $2,367,780,102,  would  yield  '$7,863,741  04 

After  a  careful  consideration  of  the  elements  of  the  question,  I 
have  arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  a  reduction,  substantially  of  this 
extent,  can  be  effected  without  detriment  to  the  public  interests,  if 
there  exist  no  deficiencies  yet  undiscovered  in  the  public  accounts, 
and  if  no  extraordinary  necessity  for  new  appropriations  shall  arise. 

It  may  be  proper  to  indicate  some  of  the  chief  particulars  in 
which  this  reduction  can  be  made. 


SECOND  ANNUAL   MESSAGE.  249 

1.  Payments  on  debts  of  the  State : 

Appropria  tions 

in  18T4.        Necessary  in  1S76. 

For  bounty  debt $4,260,000  00     $1,727,746  00 

For  canal  debt 198,888  00          625,610  70 

$,458,888  00     $2,353,356  70 
Reduction $2,105,531  30 

2.  Canal  expenditures : 

18T4.  18T6. 

For  extraordinary  repairs  $1,898,144  39  None. 

For  awards. 474,53610        $172,68049 

$2,372,680  49 
Reduction — which,  as  to  canal  awards,  is  estimated    $2,200,000  00 

3.  Reduction  by  means  of  surplus  of  taxes  in  1875 $1,033,875  18 

4.  The  taxes  provided  for  general  purposes 

in  1875  were  less  than  those  of  1874  by        $493,358  18 
The  excess  of  appropriations  over  taxes 

computed  on  the  old  valuation  was  ....          156,958  19 

Balance $336,399  99 

Counting  on  the  same  appropriation  this 

year,  there  will  be  a  reduction  of $336,399  99 

5.  The  tax  for  new  asylums  and  reformatory 

in  1874  was .$813,490  45 

The  appropriation  for  1875  was 479,800  00 

Balance $333,690  45 

If  the  same  appropriations  were  made  in 

1876  as  in  1874,  the  reduction  would  be  $333,690  45 

The  .reductions  effected  in  these  it*ms  would  be $6,009,496  92 

In  order  to  effect  the  diminution  of  taxes  one-half,  there 
would  remain  to  be  effected  out  of.  the  other  appropri 
ations  a  further. reduction  of $1,854,244  12 

The  other  taxes  in  1875,  as  appropriated,  were : 

For  new  Capitol $1,000,000  00 

For  asylums  and  reformatory 479,800  00 

Remainder  of  taxes  appropriated  for  general  purposes,  1874  3,696,117  66 

Taxes  appropriated  for  schools,  1874 .......  2,660,000  00 

Total $7,835,917  66 

A  quarter  of  that  would  be $1,958,979  41 

The  balance  of  the  reduction  proposed  is $1,854,244  12 


#50  THE   LIFE   OF  SAMUEL   J.   TILDEN. 

Three-quarters  of  the  reduction  contemplated  will  have  been 
effected  out  of  half  the  taxes  in  the  items  mentioned.  There  would 
seem  to  be  no  difficulty  out  of  the  remaining  half  of  the  taxes  to 
make  the  remaining  quarter  of  the  proposed  reduction.  The  subject 
will  be  further  discussed  when  the  principal  objects  of  the  expendi 
tures  are  separately  considered. 

THE   PERMANENT   EESULT. 

It  is  not  intended  to  insist  on  positive  exactness  of  results.  In 
the  exigencies  of  a  great  State,  unforeseen  necessities  may  arise. 
But,  in  private  business,  and  in  the  administration  of  those  great  cor 
porate  bodies  which  are  the  growth  of  modern  times,  and  some  of 
which  receive  and  disburse  larger  sums  than  the  Treasury  of  the 
State,  it  is  found  to  be  wise  and  even  necessary  to  work  up  to  a 
systematic  plan.  The  State  ought  to  do  the  same.  It  is  one  of  the 
evils  of  unsystematic  legislation  and  administration  that  results  are 
never  certain ;  that  expenditures  exceed  appropriations,  and  appro 
priations  exceed  taxes.  A  floating  debt  is  thus  created  by  some  sub 
ordinate  officer  or  authority,  which  the  constitution  expressly  pro 
hibits  the  law-making  powers  of  the  government  from -creating, 
except  to  the  extent  of  $1,000,000. 

But  there  seems  to  be  no  reason  to  doubt  that,  on  the  scale  of 
our  present  population  and  our  present  policy,  the  remission  of  taxes 
may  be  permanent. 

In  1877  the  million  and  three-quarters  required  this  year  for  the 
bounty  debt  will  be  unnecessary.  It  is  possible,  if  the  canals  are 
well  managed,  that  the  demand  from  them  on  the  Treasury  may  be 
somewhat  reduced.  .The  State-prisons,  the  quarantine,  and  the  salt 
works,  all  afford  scope  for  retrenchments.  They  now  share  the  fate 
of  all  other  business  and  speculations  which  the  State  undertakes.  A 
decay  of  income  and  a  growth  of  expenditures  indicate  the  incompe 
tence  of  the  State  in  its  sleepy  indifference  to  compete  with  the  ever- 
vigilant  and  earnest  activity  of  private  interests.  The  deficiency  in 
the  State-prisons  for  the  year  is  nearly  five  hundred  and  fifty  thou 
sand  dollars,  and  of  the  quarantine  about  sixty-two  thousand  dollars,  . 
making  $612,000.  This  sum  and  the  last  installment  of  the  bounty 
debt,  amounting  to  a  million  and  three-quarters,  which  is  a  charge 
on  this  year,  and  the  deficiency  in  the  canal  sinking-fund,  amount  in 
the  aggregate  to  $2,960,000. 

The  result,  expressed  in  round  numbers,  is  that,  after  you  have 


SECOND   ANNUAL   MESSAGE.  251 

reduced  the  taxes  for  State  purposes  from  sixteen  millions  to  eight 
millions,  three  of  the  eight  millions  remaining  are  or  ought  to  be  for 
exceptional  expenditures.  That  amount,  therefore,  ought  to  form  a 
fund  adequate,  after  this  year,  to  meet  the  exceptional  expenditures 
of  the  State  for  improving  the  main  trunks  of  the  canals,  and  finish 
ing  all  public  buildings  that  ought  to  be  finished,  and  for  an  ultimate 
further  remission  of  taxes. 

I  have  made  this  explicit  exposition  of  the  subject,  at  the  opening 
of  your  session,  in  order  that  in  all  the  formative  stages  of  legislation 
involving  expenditures,  appropriations,  and  taxation,  the  considera 
tions  suggested  may  be  present  to  your  minds.  The  amendment  to 
the  constitution,  first  brought  into  operation  at  the  last  session,  im 
posing  on  the  Governor  the  obligation  to  revise  every  item  of  appro 
priation,  works  a  change  in  official  practice  amounting  to  a  revolu 
tion.  Hitherto,  as  the  appropriations  were  embraced  in  bills  that 
had  to  be  accepted  or  rejected,  as  a  whole,  the  items  have  been,  in 
effect,  withdrawn  from  the  action  of  the  Governor.  The  responsi 
bility  now  devolved  on  him  is  very  laborious  and  difficult.  It  tends, 
perhaps,  to  work  some  change  in  the  customary  relations  of  the  de 
partments.  In  ordinary  legislation,  it  is  stretching  the  function  of 
the  executive  veto  too  far,  to  apply  it  to  every  case  in  which  the 
Governor,  if  a  member  of  the  Senate  or  Assembly,  would  vote  against 
a  bill.  There  seems  to  be  a  disposition  to  hold  the  Executive  to  the 
extreme  of  accountability  in  respect  to  appropriations.  This  ten 
dency  may  be  carried  so  far  as  to  disturb  the  constitutional  equilib 
rium  of  the  executive  and  legislative  forces.  Not  desiring  to  am 
plify  my  official  powers,  nor  disposed  to  shrink  from  any  just  re 
sponsibility,  the  occasion  seems  fit  to  invite  a  frank  understanding,  to 
avow  my  own  wish  for,  and  to  seek  from  you,  a  cordial  cooperation 
on  this  subject,  for  the  good  of  our  common  constituents.  I  have 
endeavored  to  narrate  the  financial  condition,  prospects,  and  possi 
bilities  of  the  State  in  plain  language,  divested  of  the  technical  forms 
of  complicated  accounts,  which  render  financial  statements  capable 
of  being  analyzed  only  by  experts,  and  incapable  of  being  under 
stood  by  anybody,  without  explanations  which  they  do  not  contain. 

POLICY    OF   THE   STATE   AS   TO   THE   EEIE   CANAL. 

In  my  annual  message  of  last  year,  I  entered  into  a  full  discus 
sion  of  the  policy  of  the  State  in  respect  to  the  construction,  owner 
ship,  management,  and  improvement  of  the  Erie  CanaL 


252  THE  LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.   TILDEN. 

In  my  special  message  of  March  19,  1875,.!  opened  a  discussion  as 
to  the  improvidence,  waste,  and  corruption  which  have  infested  the 
administration  of  the  canal  system.  Inviting  your  attention  to  those 
documents,  I  confine  myself  on  this  occasion  to  a  brief  summary  of 
the  policy  of  the  State  as  it  may  be  deemed  now  to  be  settled  : 

.  1.  Not  denying  the  general  unfitness  of  government  to  construct, 
own,  or  manage  the  works  which  offer  the  means  of  transportation, 
the  State  of  New  York  saw  an  exception  in  the  situation  and  in  the 
nature  of  the  canals  which  are  trunk  connections  between  the  Hud 
son  Kiver  and  the  great  inland  seas  on  the  north  and  west.  Con 
necting  vast  navigable  public  waters,  they  assume"  something  of  a 
public  character.  They  are  a  link  of  350  miles  in  a  system  which, 
on  the  one  hand  by  1,500  miles  of  the  waters  of  the  great  lakes,  and 
on  the  other  hand  by  3,150  miles  of  the  waters  of  the  Hudson  River 
and  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  connects  the  crowded  populations  of  Europe 
with  the  fertile  prairies  of  the  Northwest,  covered  with  their  net 
work  of  tributary  railways. 

2.  The  Erie  Canal  remains  an  important  and  valuable  instrument 
of  transport,  not  only  by  its  direct  uses,  but  by,its  regulating  power 
in  competition  with  the  trunk  railways  between  the  East  and  the 
West. 

3.  The  Erie  Canal  has  a  capacity  to  accommodate  an  aggregate 
tonnage  at  least  twice  as  large  as  has  ever  offered.     It  is  capable  of 
being  made  an  instrument  of  the  cheapest  transportation  per  ton, 
per  mile,  which  artificial  navigation,  in  existing  geographical  and 
physical  conditions,  can  attain ;  not  by  changing  its  essential  char 
acter,  but  by  perfecting  it  and  giving  it  the  highest  efficiency. 

4.  The  policy  upon  which  the  State  appears  to  have  decided,  and 
that  which  I  had  the  honor  to  advocate  in  the  Constitutional  Con 
ventions  of  1846  and  1867,  and  which  is  set  forth  in  my  messages  of 
the  last  year,  is  to  keep  these  great  public  works  as  a  trust  .for  the 
million,  not  seeking  to  make  revenue  or  profit  to  the  sovereign  out  of 
the  right  of  way. 

The  State  originally  undertook  the  construction  and  administra-' 
tion  of  the  public  works  in  order  to  secure  a  facile  and  cheap  trans 
portation,  to  which  private  enterprise  was  then  and  long  afterward 
inadequate. 

It  early  opened  to  free  competition  every  mode  of  transit,  even  in 
rivalry  to  its  own  works,  for  the  interchange  of  the  agricultural 


SECOND  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  253 

products  of  the  "West  and  of  the  manufactures  and  merchandise  of 
the  East. 

It  has  not  exacted  from  the  trust  a  full  return  of  its  advances ; 
but  in  expenditures  in  excess  of  the  revenues  and  defrayed  by  taxes, 
and  in  remission  of  tolls,  it  has  made  large  sacrifices  to  cheapen  the 
cost  of  transportation. 

It  has  not  sought  to  limit  the  advantages  of  its  policy  to  its  own 
citizens  ;  nor  has  it  paused  because  the  prices  (even  for  our  own  con 
sumption)  of  exported  cereals  and  other  agricultural  products  are 
fixed  by  foreign  markets,  so  that  the  benefits  of  a  reduced  cost  of 
conveying  them  to  the  seaboard  accrue  chiefly  to  the  Western  pro 
ducers. 

SITUATION  AT   THE  LAST   SESSION". 

In  the  progress  of  the  last  session  it  became  obvious  that  the  re 
trenchment  in  the  ordinary  expenses  of  the  canals,  and  in  the  out 
lays  for  new  work  recommended  in  the  message,  were  not  likely  to 
be  in  any  degree  realized.  The  appropriations  for  ordinary  repairs, 
as  passed  by  the  Assembly  and  by  the  Canal  Committee,  were  nearly 
equal  to  those  of  the  previous  year.  The  appropriations  for  new 
work,  as  called  for  by  the  budget  submitted  by  the  Canal  Commis 
sioners  to  the  committees  of  the  Legislature,  were  at  least  as  large  as 
the  similar  estimates  of  the  year  before. 

In  the  mean  time  the  canal  revenues  for  the  months  of  September 
and  October,  which  are  in  the  then  current  fiscal  year,  were  falling 
off  one-quarter  of  their  former  amounts ;  and  the  forwarders,  boat 
men,  and  others  engaged  in  transportation,  were  appealing  for  a  re 
duction  in  the  tolls,  in  opder  to  enable  them  to  continue  their  busi 
ness. 

On  an  investigation,  induced  by  this  emergency,  it  was  found 
that  in  the  preceding  five  years  the  State  had  levied  taxes  of  between 
eleven  and  twelve  million  dollars  for  extraordinary  repairs  besides 
deficiencies  in  the  sinking-fund,  thereby  imposing  a  burden  of  almost 
three  millions  a  year  upon  the  tax -payers. 

And  upon  inquiry  as  to  how  these  vast  sums  had  been  expended, 
it  appeared  that  much  had  been  for  objects  of  no  real  utility,  that 
many  of  the  contracts  had  been  obtained  by  sham  biddings  in  eva 
sion  of  the  law,  and  there  was  reason  for  suspicion  as  to  the  dura 
bility  and  value  of  the  work. 


254  THE  LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.   TILDEN. 


EEFOEM. 

In  this  condition  of  things,  I  proposed  a  reconciliation  between 
the  discontented  tax-payers  and  the  distressed  transporters  by  a 
thorough  reform  in  the  service  and  the  system,  which  should  remit 
taxes,  reduce  tolls,  and  increase  the  efficiency  of  the  canals. 

INVESTIGATING   COMMISSION. 

The  first  step  was  to  obtain  the  information  necessary  to  enable 
remedies  to  be  devised  and  wisely  applied.  The  commission  ap 
pointed  under  the  joint  resolution  and  statute,  consisting  of  Messrs. 
John  Bigelow,  Daniel  Magone,  Jr.,  Alexander  E.  Orr,  and  John  D. 
Van  Buren,  Jr.,  immediately  after  their  organization  made  such  per 
sonal  inspection  of  the  most  important  parts  of  the  canals  as  was 
possible  before  the  water  was  let  in  for  navigation ;  and  after  that 
was  done  they  proceeded  to  investigate  many  of  the  contracts  for 
work  on  the  canals  and  the  transactions  connected  with  them. 

I  shall  not  outrun  the  public  sense  of  the  great  and  onerous  ser 
vice  which  these  gentlemen  have  given  to  the  State  when  I  say  that 
they  have  executed  the  trust  reposed  in  them  with  unswerving  and 
impartial  fidelity,  and  with  distinguished  intelligence  and  ability. 

The  frauds  are  not  the  simple  case  of  embezzlement  of  public 
money,  or  a  cheat  in  the  payment  of  taxes,  but  are  to  be  traced 
through  the  complicated  work  of  construction,  and  are  sheltered  by 
the  complicity  or  connivance  of  officials  whose  duty  it  is  to  protect 
the  State.  The  truth  has  to  be  discovered  and  the  proof  obtained 
from  unwilling  and  sometimes  unscrupulous  witnesses. 

The  primary  object  is  to  reform  the  system  and  establish  every 
possible  security  against  a  recurrence  of  the  evils.  While  security 
for  the  future  is  of  transcendent  importance,  indemnity  for  the  past 
is  to  be  sought.  Civil  and  criminal  redress  is  to  be  enforced. 

If  it  is  a  matter  of  toil  and  difficulty  to  make  the  investigations 
effectual,  it  is  infinitely  more  so  to  conduct  the  actions  in  the  courts 
to  their  conclusion,  in  cases  so  numerous  and  complicated.  It  will 
be  necessary  for  you  to  make  a  special  appropriation  for  aid  to  the 
Attorney-General. 

INCOME   AND    EXPENSES   OF    CANALS. 

The  income  and  expenses  of  the  canals  for  the  fiscal  year  ending 
September  30,  1875,  are  shown  by  the  following  table : 


SECOND  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 


255 


ii 


rl 


ill 
l^| 


Extraordinary 
Repairs  and 
New  Work. 


Tf  o  o  05  co  eo  »— 
co  <N  o  o  t-  o  o 


OOiOt—  T-*IO 
OO5CST-tOlQ 


OsOOO^ 

oocot- 

Wl  05  t—  1— 

co  i-  o  o 


T-  I  O 

—  <  oo 


O  «0  f-C3  55  -^    • 

"iO~co'"r-rs<ft^'cf  ; 


!4i:  :  :  iilfS 


1    A< 

illiiiilll 


256  THE  LIFE   OP  SAMUEL  J.   TILDEN. 

EEAL   INCOME. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  income  is  stated  at  $1,902,990.04,  and  the 
explanation  is  made  at  the  Auditor's  office  that,  as  the  receipts  are  a 
month  later  than  the  earnings,  the  computation  includes  the  receipts 
of  September,  1874,  and  excludes  those  of  September,  1875.  As  the 
former  month  yielded  $166,341.10  more  than  the  latter,  except  for 
this  mode  of  computation  the  result  would  be  $1,736,651.  The  esti 
mate  in  my  special  message  of  March  19th,  founded  on  the  data  there 
given,  was  $1,715,168.  The  calendar  year  1875  gives  only  $1,584,018. 

COMPARATIVE    STATEMENT,    1874   AND   1875. 

The  following  is  a  comparative  statement  of  the  revenues  and 
expenses  for  the  fiscal  years  1874  and  1875,  furnished  at  the  Audi 
tor's  office : 

Statement  showing  the  Aggregate  Receipts  and  Payments  on  Account  of  the 
Ordinary  Expenses  of  the  Canals  for  the  last  Two  Years. 

1874.  1875, 

Receipts  from  tolls,  etc $2,947,972  91     $1,925,995  63 


Payments  to  superintendents  and  repair  con 
tractors $1,1 76,021  46        $985,105  10 

Payments  by  Canal  Commissioners  for  repairs  121,694  91          279,616  69 

Payments  to  collectors  and  their  assistants. .  84,83344            75,85741 

Payments  to  weighmasters  and  their  assistants  12,846  39            12,118  09 

Refunding  tolls,  salaries  of  officers,  etc 74,070  63           61,759  65" 

Reserve  balance  of  appropriation   for  con 
creting  the  sixteen  locks  and  retrunking 

the  Upper  and  Lower  Mohawk  Aqueducts  52,859  01 


Total  expenses  for  the  year. $1,469,466  83     $1,467,315  95 

Net  receipts 1,478,506  08          458,679  68 

This  statement  shows  a  falling  off  in  the  toll  receipts  of  the  last 
fiscal  year,  as  compared  with  those  of  1874,  of  $1,021,977.28,  de 
crease  in  payments  of  $2,150.88,  and  a  loss  in  net  receipts  of  $1,019,- 
826.40— the  net  revenue  being  $625,610.70  short  of  the  requirements 
of  the  sinking-fund  under  Art.  VII.,  section  3,  of  the  constitution ; 
the  amount  required  being  as  follows : 

Interest  in  coin.'. . . .'. $634,290  38 

For  sinking-fund . .  . .  t •. 450,000  00 


$1,084,290  38 
Actual  surplus 458,679  68 


Deficiency $625,610  70 


SECOND  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  £57 

EXPLANATOEY    COMMENT. 

It  is  to  be  noted  that  the  expenses  during  all  the  present  year,  ex 
cept  the  last  two  months  of  navigation — that  is,  up  to  September  30, 
1875 — were  under  the  appropriations  of  1874.  The  reductions  effect 
ed,  at  the  last  session  do  not  begin  to  operate  until  October  1,  1875. 

The  diminution  in  business  caused  by  the  bad  condition  of  our 
domestic  trade,  the  growing  diversion  by  the  completion  of  railways, 
and  the  reduction  of  tolls,  all  operated  from  the  beginning  of  navi 
gation,  or  five  months  out  of  the  seven  of  the  season  earlier  than  the 
reduction  of  expenses. 

The  falling  off  of  income  in  the  last  two  months  of  1875,  as  com 
pared  with  the  last  two  months  of  1874,  is  less  than  the  reduction  in 
ordinary  expenses  and  repairs  for  the  fiscal  year  commencing  October 
1,  1875. 

FUTUKE   MEASUEES. 

In  this  state  of  things  it  is  obvious  that  our  first  measure  should 
.  be  to  ascertain  completely,  and  without  unnecessary  delay,  the  finan 
cial  condition  of  the  canals :  the  state  of  the  contracts  yet  outstand 
ing  for  extraordinary  work,  in  order  to  determine  what  ought  to  be 
stopped  or  abandoned  and  what  ought  to  be  continued,  and  the  means 
applicable  to  any  expenditure  they  may  require. 

A  second  measure  is  the  careful  and  thorough  investigation  of  or 
dinary  expenses  and  repairs,  for  the  purpose  of  keeping  them  down 
to  the  lowest  point  consistent  with  the  efficiency  of  the  canals. 

A  third  measure  relates  to  the  disposition  of  such  laterals  as  are 
not  necessary  as  feeders.  It  will  be  recollected  that  at  the  last  session, 
in  view  of  the  complicated  questions  incident  to  this  subject,  requir 
ing  legal  engineering  and  business  skill,  and  much  devotion  of  time 
and  attention,  I  recommended  its  reference  to  a  special  commission. 
The  Legislature,  however,  preferred  to  charge  the  Canal  Commission 
ers  and  State  Engineer  and  Surveyor  with  the  additional  duty.  I  am 
not  advised  what  report  they  will  make  on  the  subject. 

A  fourth  measure  is  a  radical  change  in  the  system  of  administra 
tion.  The  present  machinery  is  chaotic,  and,  except  with  something 
of  the  unity  which  existed  in  practice  in  the  Canal  Board  under  the 
old  constitution,  is  incapable  of  acting  with  efficiency  or  economy. 
The  abuses,  perversions  of  law  and  morals,  improvidence  and  waste 
which  cling  around  it,  are  the  growth  of  years.  When  a  man  of 
average  well-meaning  and  average  ability  comes  singly  into  one  of 
these  administrative  offices,  the  graft  develops,  not  its  own  nature, 


258  THE   LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.   TILDEN. 

but  the  nature  of  the  parent  stem.  It  is  difficult  to  carry  out  reform 
by  instruments  that  are  incurably  averse  to  reform ;  whose  indo 
lence,  comfort,  associations,  habits,  assistants,  and  advisers,  are  all 
naturally  opposed  to  what  they  are  expected  to  do.  Every  step  of 
progress  is  not  only  through  an  enemy's  country,  but  beset  by  unex 
pected  betrayals. 

A  constitutional  amendment,  changing  the  system  of  administer 
ing  the  canals,  was  unanimously  passed  by  both  Houses  at  the  last 
session.  Your  attention  is  respectfully  called  to  the  importance  of 
an  early  consideration  of  the  subject. 

A  fifth  measure  is  the  continuance  for  the  present  year  of  the 
reduction  in  the  tolls  made  for  last  year. 

A  sixth  measure  is  to  subject  all  the  work  called  extraordinary 
repairs  to  a  systematic  and  thorough  scrutiny,  and  discard  everything 
that  is  not  clearly  and  certainly  necessary.  When  the  debris  of  the 
old  rotten  system  shall  be  cleared  away,  there  is  a  work  of  real  util 
ity  and  small  cost,  which  will  claim  an  early  attention,  and  for  which 
the  people  would  be  willing  to  provide  the  means.  On  this  topic  I 
repeat  the  remarks  contained  in  the  special  Canal  Message  of  March 
19,  1875  : 

"  In  my  judgment  a  far  more  important  improvement  of  the  Erie 
Canal  would  be  effected  by  a  thorough  system  of  ordinary  repairs, 
which  should  give  the  water-way  its  proper  and  lawful  dimensions ; 
and  by  progressively  deepening  it,  wherever  reasonably  practicable, 
from  seven  to  eight  feet.  As  the  object  would  be  merely  to  enable  the 
submerged  section  of  the  boat  to  move  in  a  larger  area  of  water,  so 
that  the  displaced  fluid  could  pass  the  boat  in  a  larger  space,  it  would 
not  be  necessary  to  alter  the  culverts  or  other  structures,  or  to  carry 
the  walls  below  the  present  bottom  ;  and  the  benefit  would  be  real 
ized  in  each  portion  of  the  canal  improved,  without  reference  to  any 
other  part  of  the  channel  which  should  remain  unchanged.  In  facili 
tating  the  movement  of  the  boat,  and  quickening  its  speed,  it  would 
increase  the  amount  of  service  rendered  in  a  given  time,  and  would 
thereby  diminish  every  element  of  the  cost  of  transportation.  It 
would  benefit  the  boatmen  and  carriers  more,  even,  than  one  cent  a 
bushel  remission  of  tolls.  It  would  be  of  more  real  utility  to  naviga 
tion  than  five  or  ten  times  its  cost  expended  in  the  average  manner 
of  so-called  improvements  on  the  public  works.  But  it  is  too  sim 
ple,  too  practically  useful,  to  enlist  the  imagination  of  projectors 
who  seek  the  fame  of  magnificent  constructions,  and  of  engineers 
who  build  monuments  for  exhibition  to  their  rivals,  or  to  awaken  the 
rapacity  of  cormorants  who  fatten  on  jobs." 

I  have  thus  briefly  sketched  the  outline  of  a  policy  which  is  the 


SECOND  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  259 

best  method  to  promote  cheap  transportation,  not  only  so  far  as  the 
Erie  Canal  is  concerned,  but  in  its  general  effect  upon  all  methods  of 
transportation. 

It  seems  to  me  that  these  measures  are  entitled  to  the  effective 
support  of  the  forwarders,  boatmen,  transporters,  as  well  as  to  that 
of  the  tax-payers,  and  all  who  desire  to  rescue  our  public  works  from 
spoliation. 

THE    NEW    CAPITOL. 

The  following  statement  shows  the  payments  for  this  object  from 
the  State  Treasury,  including  purchase  of  lands,  etc.,  to  June  20, 1875  : 

To  September  30,  1863 $51,593  66 

"  "  "  1864 9,45355 

"  "  "  1865 10,86008 

"  "  "  1866  (Congress  Hall  block). .  ,  . . .  65,250  00 

"  "  1867 10,00000 

"  "  "  1868 50,00000 

"  "  "  1869 451,21563 

"  «  "  1870 1,223,59773 

"  "  "  1871 482,94237 

"  "  "  1872 856,10698 

"  "  "  1873 1,175,60000 

"  "  "  1874 610,27516 

From  October  1,  1874,  to  June  20,  1875 1,000,600  00 

Total $5,997,495  16 

A  statement  from  the  clerk  of  the  present  commission,  which  was 
organized  on  the  29th  of  June,  1875,  is  as  follows : 

Amount  paid  on  account  of  expenditures   prior  to 

January  1,  1875 $263,659  95 

Amount  expended  in  construction  since  June  29th. . .  491,349  95 

Estimated  liabilities  on  January  1,  1876 65,542  22 

The  memorandum  attached  to  the  supply  bill  signed  on  the  21st 
of  June  contains  the  following  observations  on 

THE  APPEOPEIATION  FOE  THE  NEW  CAPITOL. 

"  Of  the  million  provided  for  this  purpose,  more  than  $200,000  will 
be  consumed  in  the  payment  of  arrears  now  existing  in  the  nature  of 
a  floating  debt,  and  less  than  $800,000  will  be  applicable  to  new  con 
struction. 

"  It  is  with  reluctance  that  I  assent  to  this  appropriation.  Nearly 
$6,000,000  has  already  been  expended  upon  this  edifice.  Although 


260  THE  LIFE   OF  SAMUEL   J.   TILDEN.     , 

the  general  plan  has  been  determined,  the  details  have  not  been 
worked  out  with  such  thoroughness  and  such  certainty  as  to  afford 
any  guide  as  to  the  amount  which  will  probably  be- required  for  the 
completion  of  the  building.  If  it  were  an  original  question  I  should 
have  no  hesitation  in  condemning  and  discarding  a  work  of  such  un 
necessary  cost ;  but  it  cannot  be  now  abandoned  without  losing  all 
that  has  been  thus  far  expended.  In  deciding  on  the  wisdom  of  com 
pleting  it,  we  are  to  consider  only  whether  it  will  be  worth  the  future 
outlay  for  its  completion.  What  that  cost  will  be  ought  to  be  ascer 
tained  with  all  the  certainty  attainable.  I  doubted  whether  the  work 
ought  not  to  be  suspended  until  the  plans  of  future  construction 
should  be  settled,  and  full  assurance .  had  that  the  annual  expenditure 
should  be  made  usefully  in  furtherance  of  those  plans.  In  the  mean 
time  I  favored  a  reduction  of  this  appropriation  below  the  amount 
adopted  by  the  Legislature." 

The  new  commission  consists  of  the  Lieutenant-Governor,  the 
Auditor  of  the  Canal  Department,  and  the  Attorney-General. 

The  act  provides  that,  before  any  portion,  exceeding  $50,000,  of 
the  sum  appropriated  for  the  construction  of  the  new  Capitol  should 
be  expended,  full  details,  plans,  and  specifications  of  the  story  of  said 
building  containing  the  legislative  halls,  should  be  made  and  approved 
by  the  said  commissioners.  This  requirement  of  the  law  was  com 
plied  with,  and  the  work  of  construction  was  prosecuted  through  the. 
summer  and  autumn. 

The  act  further  provides  that  "  not  more  than  one-half  of  the  said 
appropriation  shall  be  expended  before  full  details,  plans,  and  specifi 
cations  of  the  whole  of  the  remainder  of  said  building  shall  be  made 
and  approved  in  writing,"  by  the  commissioners.  This  requirement 
has  not,  as  yet,  been  complied  with,  and  the  work  upon  the  Capitol 
has  been  suspended.  The  plans  and  specifications  have  been  prepared 
by  the  architect,  and  were  submitted  to  the  commissioners  on  the 
15th  day  of  December,  1875,  but  they  have  not,  as  yet,  been  approved 
by  the  commissioners. 

The  determination  of  all  the  details  of  so  extensive  a  building  will 
require  much  careful  consideration. 

It  is  the  intention  of  the  commissioners,  before  approving  the 
plans  for  the. completion  of  the  new  Capitol,  to  ascertain  and  report 
to  the  Legislature  the  cost  of  execution;  they  are  now,  as  I  am  in 
formed,  engaged  in  this  very  necessary  preliminary  work. 

IXSANE   ASYLUMS   AND   KEFOKMATOfcY. 

Four  State  institutions  are  in  process  of  construction — three  asy 
lums  for  the  insane  and  a  reformatory.  It  might  have  been  supposed 


SECOND  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  261 

that  such,  an  extensive  provision  for  the  insane  as  is  contemplated  in 
these  three  institutions  could  not  become  necessary  on  the  instant, 
and  that  common  prudence  would  have  dictated  that  one  institution 
should  be  completed  before  another  was  begun.  But,  unfortunately, 
not  even  the  sacred  influences  of  charity  could  save  these  works  from 
the  spirit  of  legislative  log-rolling,  or  the  rapacity  of  local  expendi 
ture.  • 

The  policy  of  beginning  everything  and  finishing  nothing  has  pre 
vailed.  Construction  has  been  on  a  scale  of  costly  extravagance. 

At  the  last  session  $2,750,000,  raised  by  taxes,  had  been  expended 
on  these  four  institutions,  and  about  $450,000  raised  by  taxes  and 
appropriated  remained  unexpended,  and  yet  no  considerable  part  of 
these  works  had  been  made  available. 

The  plan  was  adopted. at  that  session  of  confining  the  appropria 
tions  for .  the  year  to  such  sums  as  would  make  available  and  bring 
into  use  the  portions  of  the  structures  most  nearly  approaching  com 
pletion. 

The  construction  of  the  other  portions  of  those  buildings,  if  they 
are  to  be  completed  according  to  the  present  plans,  may  be  deferred 
until  after  the  extinction  of  the  bounty  debt  in  1877. 

The  interval  will  afford  an  opportunity  to  revise  the  whole  policy 
of  the  State  in  respect  to  these  institutions,  and  to  reconsider  the 
plans  and  methods  of  their  construction.  The  expenditures  thus  far 
are  as  follows : 

Hudson  River  Asylum : 

Total  expenditure  to  December  20,  1875 .$1,337,978  52 

Buffalo  Asylum  : 

Total  expenditure  to  December  20,  1875 767,351  91 

Middletown  Asylum  : 

Total  expenditure  to  December  20,  1875 454,099  38 

.  Elmira  "Reformatory : 

Total  expenditure  to  December  20,  1875 760,117  98 


Total ; $3,319,547  79 

The  cost  of  completing  these  buildings  is  as  yet  a  matter  of  con 
jecture  ;  it  probably  would  exceed  what  has  already  been  expended. 

It  is  quite  clear  that  an  outlay  of  $5,000  per  inmate,  for  the  pur 
pose  of  providing  shelter  for  the  unfortunate  objects  of  public  char 
ity,  is  unreasonable  and  extravagant.  That  would  be  equal  to  $25,- 
000  for  five  persons,  which  compose  the  average  family  in  this  State. 


262 


THE  LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.   TILDEN. 


How  many  families  of  laborious  and  thrifty  producers  can  afford  to 
live  in  a  house  costing  $25,000? 

In  1865,  less  than  one-sixtieth  of  the  houses  of  this  State  were  of 
stone,  and  their  value  was  about  $10,000  each,  or  $2,000  for  each 
inmate.  Those  of  brick,  which  are  about  one-eighth  of  the  whole 
number,  were  valued  at  $6,000,  or  $1,200  for  each  inmate.  Those  of 
wood,  which  are  three-fourths  of  the  whole  number,  were  valued  at 
$1,100,  or  $220  for  each  inmate. 

I  deny  that  there  is  any  sound  public  policy  in  erecting  palaces 
for  criminals,  for  paupers,  or  for  the  insane.  A  style  of  architecture 
simple,  and  fitted  to  the  nature  of  its  object,  would  reconcile  artistic 
taste  with  justice  toward  the  industrious  producers,  on  whom  falls 
the  burden  of  providing  for  the  unfortunate.  Waste  in  such  edifices 
is  not  only  a .  wrong  to  the  tax-payers,  but  by  just  so  much  it  con 
sumes  the  fund  which  the  State  is  able  to  provide  for  the  objects  of 
its  charity. 

Nor  does  the  mischief  stop  with  the  completion  of  costly  dwell 
ings.  The  State  still  has  to  provide  annually  for  the  support  of  their 
inmates.  By  an  inevitable  association  of  ideas  in  men's  minds,  mag 
nificent  homes  lead  to  magnificent  current  expenditure.  The  pride 
of  officers  and  managers,  and  of  local  admirers,  and  the  zeal  of  benev 
olence,  are  freely  indulged  where  they  are  gratified  without  expense 
to  those  who  are  swayed  by  them. 

It  is  to  be  remembered  that,  after  all,  the  burden  of  taxation  is 
chiefly  not  upon  accumulated  wealth,  but  upon  the  current  earnings 
of  the  million  who  carry  on  their  productive  industries  in  frugal 
homes.  They  ought  not  to  be  the  only  class  disfavored  by  the  policy 
of  the  State. 

STATE-PEISONS. 

The  following  statement  shows  the  expenditures  and  earnings  of 
each  of  the  prisons  for  the  year  ending  September  30,  1875  : 


Advances  from 
the  Treasury. 

Eeceived  from 
Earnings. 

Excess  of 
Expenditures. 

Auburn 

$208  719  35 

$76,935   62 

$131,783  73 

328,638  13 

133,446  25 

195,191   88 

Sin°"  Sinsr 

341  826  20 

158,596  64 

183  229  56 

Miscellaneous 
distributed, 
144.50  for 

expenditures    not 
including    $28,- 
transportation   of 

35,344  50 

35,344  50 

Total 

$914  528  18 

$368  978  51 

$545,549  67 

SECOND  ANNUAL   MESSAGE. 


263 


The  excess  of  advances  from  the  Treasury  over  receipts  from 
earnings  is  as  follows: 

In  1867  it  was $366,874  79 

In  1868  it  was 512,547  74 

In  1869  it  was 595,77445 

In  1870  it  was 461,304  99 

In  1871  it  was 470,309  23 

In  1872  it  was -. 465,881  84 

In  1873  it  was; 597,289  06 

In  1874  it  was , - 588,537  42 

In  1875  it  was 545,549  67 

The  number  of  convicts  in  each  of  the  prisons,  September  30, 
1873,  1874,  and  1875,  was  as  follows : 


1873. 

18T4. 

1875. 

Auburn  .... 

1  104 

1  202 

1  312 

Clinton  :  

567 

552 

553 

Sine  Sin°- 

1  354 

1  306 

1  616 

Total  

3  025 

3  060 

3  481 

Although  the  burden  imposed  upon  the  tax-payers  of  the  State  by 
these  institutions  has  been  slightly  decreased  within  the  last  three 
years,  I  think  the  people  ought  not  to  be  satisfied  with  the  present 
exhibit. 

Under  a  proper  system,  and  with  proper  management,  the  prisons 
of  the  State,  filled  for  the  most  part  with  able-bodied  men,  ought  to 
be  self-supporting,  if,  indeed,  they  ought  not  to  produce  a  consider 
able  revenue  to  the  State.  Other  institutions  of  a  like  character,  and 
possessing  in  some  respects  less  advantages,  impose  no  burden  upon 
the  people,  and  one  conspicuous  institution  in  this  city  affords  a  sur 
plus  to. the  county. 

I  recommend  that  a  thorough  inquiry  be  made  with  respect  to  the 
management  of  the  State-prisons  in  such  manner  as  the  Legislature 
may  think  best,  to  the  end  that  such  reforms,  both  in  legislation  and 
in  administration,  may  be  accomplished  as  are  necessary  to  produce 
the  desired  result. 

I  also  recommend  to  your  adoption  the  resolution  passed  at  the 
last  -session,  and  which  requires  your  concurrence,  for  submitting  to 


264  THE  LIFE   OF   SAMUEL  J.   TILDEX. 

the  people  the  constitutional  amendment  therein  contained  relating 
to  the  State-prisons. 

SALT'SrRINGS. 

The  quantity  of  salt,  from  the  Onondaga  Salt-Springs,  inspected 
during  the  last  fiscal  year  was  6,589,676  bushels,  less  by  4,515  bush 
els  than  the  production  of  the  preceding  year. 

The  net  revenue  from  this  source  was  $5,148.32,  showing  a  falling 
off  as  compared  with  the  preceding  year  of  $5,193.35. 

It  is  represented  by  the  Superintendent  that  a  considerable  outlay 
will  soon.be  necessary  for  repairing  and  renewing  the  machinery  con 
nected  with  the  works,  and  for  completing  the  sinking  of  new  wells. 

I  recommend  that  an  investigation  be  had  with  respect  to  the  ne 
cessity  of  such  expenditure,  the  best  method  of  operating  the  works, 
and  the  general  management  of  the  concern. 

QUARANTINE. 

The  payments  from  the  State  Treasury  for  this  object  during  the 
fiscal  year  ending  September  30,  1875,  were  : 

Advances  to  commissioners  for  maintenance  of  Quarantine  es 
tablishment $48,000  00 

Salaries  of  commissioners. . . . 7,500  00 

Commissioners  appointed  to  confer  with  the  authorities  of  New 

Jersey  on  jurisdiction 3,000  00 

Pay  of  police ; '. 3,953  18 


$62,453  18 

It  seems  to  me  that  this  establishment  ought  to  be  made  self- 
supporting.  To  that  end,  I  commend  the  subject  to  your  considera 
tion. 

THE    NATIONAL   GUAKD. 

The  National  Guard  of  this  State  consists  of  eight  -divisions, 
eighteen  brigades,  one  regiment,  and  ten  separate  troops  of  cavalry, 
eleven  separate  battalions  of  artillery,  and  twenty-five  regiments, 
twelve  battalions,  and  seven  separate  companies  of  artillery.  They 
comprise  1,505  commissioned  officers- and  17,908  non-commissioned 
officers,  musicians,  and  privates.  The  aggregate  force  is  19,413. 

The  condition  of  the  guard,  as  respects  organization  and  discipline, 
is  eminently  satisfactory. 

The  cost  of  armories  and  the  charge  for  the  rent. of  such  as  were 


SECOND  ANNUAL   MESSAGE.  265 

occupied  under  leases  in  the  city  of  New  York  had  become  a  serious 
burden  and  a  gross  abuse.  Contracts  marked  with  extravagance  and 
improvidence,  with  favoritism  and  corruption,  had  been  made.  They 
had  become  the  subject  of  litigation,  and  were  generally  held  by  the 
courts  to  be  illegal  and  void.  The  rentals  claimed  are  about  $275,000 
per  annum.  The  claims  for  arrears  of  rent  amount  to  about  $700,000 ; 
and  the  rent  to  accrue,  if  the  leases  should  be  retained  until  their 
terms  expire,  would  be  an  additional  $1,000,000. 

The  fair  rent  of  an  armory,  where  property  is  so  valuable  as  in 
the  city  of  New  York,  is  so  considerable  that  regiments  which  are 
reduced  to  mere  skeletons  cannot  be  kept  in  existence  without  in 
justice  to  the  tax- payers  of  the  city.  For  this  reason  six  of  the  six 
teen  regiments  and  battalions  of  the  first  division,  which  consists  of 
the  city  of  New  York,  have  been  disbanded.  As  the  city  owns  four 
armories,  there  will  be  but  six  instead  of  twelve  regiments  to  be 
provided  for.  It  is  hoped  that  the  charge  on  the  city  treasury  can 
be  reduced  to  less  than  a  quarter  of  its  former  amount.  This  neces 
sary  measure  could  not  be  executed  without  inflicting  some  wounds 
in  particular  cases ;  and  I  share  the  sense  of  sacrifice  of  personal 
associations  and  patriotic  memories. 

COLLEGES    AJSTD    ACADEMIES HIGHER    EDUCATION. 

The  reports  to  the  Eegents  of  the  University  from  the  colleges  of 
the  State  show  a  gratifying  increase  of  numbers  both  of  students  and 
graduates.  Many  of  the  colleges  have  received  from  private  liberality 
additions  to  their  endowments  which  place  them  in  a  condition  of 
comparative  independence.  The  character  of  instruction  is  elevated 
and  strengthened,  the  courses  are  more  comprehensive  and  better 
adapted  to  the  demands  of  the  age. 

The  attendance  on  the  academies  and  high-schools  does  not  much 
vary  from  that  of  the  preceding  year.  These  institutions,  occupying 
an  intermediate  place  between  the  colleges  and  the  common  schools, 
provide  for  the  wants  of  those  who  desire  more  than  the  latter  can 
furnish,  and  who  are  not  able  to  meet  the  expenses  or  to  give  the 
time  required  by  the  courses  of  the  former. 

The  State  Library  and  the  State  Cabinet  of  Natural  History  have 
received  valuable  additions.  Their  condition  will  be  exhibited  in  the 
reports  of  the  trustees  soon  to  be  presented. 

12 


266  THE   LIFE   OF  SAMUEL   J.  TILDEN. 

COMMON-SCHOOL   STATISTICS    FOE   THE   YEAR    ENDING  SEPTEMBER 

30,  1875. 
Total  receipts,  including  balance  on  hand  September  30, 

1874 • $12,516,362  96 

Total  expenditures 11,365,377  79 

Amount  paid  for  teachers'  wages 7,843,231  67 

Amount  paid  for  school-houses,  repairs,  furniture,  etc 1,844,347  20 

Estimated  value  of  school-houses  and  sites 36,393,190  00 


Number  of  school-houses 11,787 

Number  of  school-districts,  exclusive  of  cities 11,289 

Number  of  teachers  employed  for  the  legal  term  of  school 19,157 

Number  of  teachers  employed  during  any  portion  of  the  year 29,977 

Number  of  children  attending  public  schools 1,058,846 

Number  of  persons  attending  normal  schools 6,207 

Number  of  children  of  school  age  in  private  schools 135,093 

Number  of  volumes  in  school-district  libraries , 812,655 

Number  of  persons  in  the  State  between  the  ages  of  five  and 

twenty-one  years 1,579,504 

STATE  TAXES   IN   AID   OF    COMMON   SCHOOLS. 

The  following  statement  shows  the  amount  produced  annually  by 
the  f  mill  tax  for  the  support  of  common  schools,  as  provided  by 
Chapter  180,  laws  of  1856  : 


1858              .  .      -  - 

1,053,680  74 

1859                   

,053,873  04 

,064,473  14 

1,081,325  14 

1862                    

,086,977  96 

1,090,841  11 

1864           •  

1,125,749  90 

1,163,159  76 

1866..                 

1,148,422  22 

The  following  shows  the  amounts  produced  by  the  1£  mill  tax  for 
this  object,  as  provided  by  section  3,  Chapter  406,  laws  o£  1867 : 
1867 $2,080,134  65 

1868"!.".' 2,207,611  42 

1869 2,325,150  96 

187o!'. '. 2,458,751  48 


SECOND  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  267 

1871 $2,565,672  37 

1872 2,610,784  31 

1873 2,662,032  98 

1874 2,711,634  84 

1875 2,959,725  13 

NOTE. — The  amount  raised  "by  State  tax  for   the  support   of  common 
schools,  prior  to  the  act  of  1856,  was  $800,000  annually. 
See  section  1,  Chapter  180,  laws  of  1856. 

THE    METHOD    OF    APPEOPKIATIO2T. 

A  standing  appropriation,  such  as  used  to  exist  before  1846,  is 
prohibited  by  the  constitution,  which  requires  a  revision  of  old  ap 
propriations  at  the  expiration  of  every  two  years.  The  system  of 
making  formal  appropriations  in  obedience  to  a  standing  law  is 
liable  to  the  objection  that  it  practically  defeats  the  policy  of  this 
constitutional  provision.  The  Legislature  does  not,  in  fact,  recon 
sider  each  time  how  much  ought  to  be  appropriated  to  the  object, 
but  mechanically  conforms  to  the  standing  law,  which  fixes  the  rate. 
The  assessors  become  in  effect  the  power  that  determines  the  taxes. 
It  cannot  be  supposed  that  the  real  value  of  property  subject  to  tax 
ation  has  increased  during  the  period  when  nearly  a  million  has  been 
added  to  this  item  of  them  by  nominal  enlargements  of  the-  valuation. 
Nor  can  it  be  doubted  that,  in  all  business,  equal  services  can  now 
be  obtained  at  less  prices  than  in  1867.  The  appropriation  ought  to 
be  for  a  specific  sum,  and  the  taxes  adjusted  to  provide  that  amount. 

STATE  "CEKTIFICATES. 

An  act  amendatory  (Chapter  567)  of  the  general  school  law  was 
passed  at  the  close  of  the  last  session,  and  became  a  law  by  receiving 
the  Executive  signature  on  the  9th  of  June,  1875.  The  fifth  section 
of  that  act  made  a  material  change  in  the  law  regulating  the  granting 
by  the  State  Superintendent  of  certificates  of  qualification  to  teach. 
That  officer  was  authorized  by  section  15  of  the  general  school 
act,  passed  May  2,  1864,  to  grant  certificates  ''  on  the  recommenda 
tion  of  any  school  commissioner  or  on  other  evidence  satisfactory  to 
him." 

A  clause  authorizing  the  State  Superintendent  to  issue,  "  in  his 
discretion,"  certificates  of  qualification  to  graduates  of  any  seminary 
of  a  private  corporation,  known  as  the  Sisterhood  of  Grey  Nuns,  on 
their  filing  with  him  their  diplomas,  appears  in  an  amendment  of  the 


268  THE  LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.  TILDEK 

charter,  by  Chapter  353  of  the  laws  of  1875,  which  became  a  law  on 
the  15th  of  May.  This  provision  did  not  purport  to  make  a  person 
having  such  diploma  a  qualified  teacher  like  a  person  having  a 
diploma  of  a  State  Normal  School,  but  merely  vested  the  State 
Superintendent  with  a  discretion  to  grant  to  such  person  a  cer 
tificate  of  qualification.  That  power  the  Superintendent  had  before, 
and  has  had  for  the  previous  eleven  years.  The  provision  had  no  real 
effect ;  it  conferred  no  new  power  on  the  Superintendent ;  it  added 
nothing  to  his  existing  power  ;  but  it  bore  the  appearance  of  a  special 
grant  of  a  privilege  to  one  corporation,  which  may  be  presumed  to 
have  escaped  attention,  for  the  bill  passed  the  Assembly  once  and  the 
Senate  twice  by  the  affirmative  vote  of  every  member  present.  But 
the  discretionary  power  of  the  Superintendent,  under  the  law  of  1864 
and  under  this  act,  was  afterward  completely  abrogated  by  the  law 
of  the  9th  of  June.  He  was  prohibited  from  granting  any  certificates 
except  on  public  examination.  The  law  of  the  9th  of  June  was  later 
than  the  Grey  Nuns'  act,  and  repealed  the  clause  of  that  act  which 
authorized  the  Superintendent,  in  his  discretion,  to  grant  certificates 
to  graduates  of  the  seminaries  of  the  Grey  Nuns'  corporation.  It 
went  further.  It  repealed  the  power  which  he  had  under  the  law  of 
1864  to  do  the  same  thing.  If  the  Grey  Nuns'  corporation  derived 
any  special  privilege  from  the  act  of  the  15th  of  May,  that  privilege 
was  destroyed  by  the  law  of  the  9th  of  June.  A  uniform  rule  is  now 
made  applicable  to  all. 

This  result  is  in  accordance  with  the  policy  of  this  State  as  estab 
lished  by  the  recent  constitutional  amendment  relating  to  the  public 
schools,  which  had  been  and  is  to  be  obeyed  and  executed  in  good 
faith. 

PAUPERISM. 

The  report  .of  the  State  Board  of  Charities  will  be  presented  to 
the  Legislature,  and  I  commend  it  to  your  earnest  attention. 

The  question,  as  to  the  proper  mode  of  providing  for  the  chronic 
poor,  is  addressed  not  only  to  the  conscience  and  the  feelings,  but  to 
the  reason  and  the  judgment.  It  is  a  question  not  so  much  of  philan 
thropy  as  of  political  economy.  The  members  of  the  board  bring  to 
its  discussion  great  zeal,  large  experience,  and  rare  intelligence.  With 
out  committing  myself  to  the  support  of  all  their  recommendations,  I 
ask  your  thoughtful  consideration  of  their  suggestions. 

The  act  of  1875,  providing  for  the  separation  of  pauper  and  desti 
tute  children  from  the  adults  of  the  same  class,  has  been  put  in  gen- 


SECOND   ANNUAL   MESSAGE.  2G9 

eral  operation,  but  years  must  elapse  before  its  beneficial  results  will 
be  fully  apparent.  This  legislation  has  met  with  warm  approval  in 
other  States,  and  will,  no  doubt,  be  followed  by  many  of  them  at 
an  early  day.  It  remains  in  this  State  to  secure  the  separation  of 
children  convicted  of  petty  offenses  from  older  offenders,  while  con 
fined  in  our  penal  institutions. 

The  subject  of  providing  work  for  paupers,  especially  of  the  class 
styled  "tramps,"  is  commended  to  your  consideration.  Even  if  their 
earnings  were  small,  the  fact  that  this  class  of  persons  were  com 
pelled  to  labor  in  return  for  their  subsistence  would,  doubtless,  less 
en  the  number  of  applicants  for  admission  into  our  poorhouses,  and 
for  outside  relief,  and  would  induce  many  of  them  to  apply  them 
selves  to  regular  employments. 

I  renew  the  recommendation  made  in  my  last  annual  message, 
for  a  thorough  revision  of  the  poor-laws. 

THE    STATE   CENSUS. 

The  census  taken  during  the  last  summer  makes  the  population 
of  the  State  4,705,208.  The  utility  of  the  information  it  collects, 
aside  from  the  primary  object  of  providing  the  means  for  a  reappor- 
tionment  of  the  representation  in  the  Legislature,  depends  largely 
upon  the  promptness  with  which  the  compilations  are  made  and 
furnished  to  the  public.  I  recommend  that  provision  be  made  to 
complete  the  work  as  early  as  the  first  of  next  December,  and  that 
the  requisite  appropriation  for  that  purpose  be  made. 

MUNICIPAL   GOVERNMENT. 

A  commission  to  consider  this  important  and  interesting  subject 
has  been  appointed  under  the  joint  resolution  of  the  last  session,  and 
is  organized  and  holding  its  sittings.  The  restrictions  necessary  to 
arrest  the  creation  of  municipal  debts,  which  has  become  a  grave 
evil,  affecting  one-half  of  the  people  of  this  State,  and  calling  urgent 
ly  for  redress,  may  well  command  the  attention  of  the  commission 
and  of  the  Legislature,  independently  of  the  complicated  questions 
involved  in  the  structural  organization  of  municipal  government  and 
the  distribution  of  its  powers. 

CENTENNIAL   EXHIBITION. 

A  State  Centennial  Board  for  New  York  has  been  appointed, 
under  Chapter  525  of  the  laws  of  1875,  to  represent  this  State,  in 


270  THE   LIFE   OF  SAMUEL   J.   TILDEtf. 

cooperation  with  the  Centennial  Commission  appointed  by  the  Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States,  in  the  preparations  for  and  at  the  inter 
national  exhibition,  to  be  held  at  Philadelphia  in  commemoration  of 
the  one  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 
The  event  not  only  appeals  to  the  people  of  the  whole  United  States 
by  the  patriotic  associations  which  attend  it,  but  it  will  be  an  occa 
sion  of  unprecedented  interest  in  the  opportunity  it  affords  to  all 
our  citizens  of  a  personal  inspection  of  the  progress  and  state  of  the 
industrial  arts  in  all  the  countries  of  the  civilized  world. 

BANKS.  ' 

Eighty-four  banks  were  doing  business  under  the  laws  of  this 
State  on  the  first  of  October  last.  Eight  banks  organized  and  com 
menced  business  during  the  fiscal  year  ending  October  1st.  During 
the  same  time  one  bank  failed,  and  three  were  converted  into  nation 
al  banks. 

Circulating  notes  to  the  amount  of  $9,314  were  destroyed  by  the 
Bank  Department,  and  forty-four  banks  were  credited  with  lost  cir 
culation  during  the  year  to  the  amount  of  $246,649,  the  time  for 
redeeming  the  same,  after  the  usual  legal  notice,  having  expired. 
The  amount  of  circulation  outstanding  was,  on  the  first  day  of  Octo 
ber  last,  $849,226.50.  Of  this  amount,  the  sum  of  $218,528  was 
secured  by  deposits  of  cash,  stocks,  or  stocks  and  mortgages.  The 
balance,  $630,698.50,  is  not  secured,  it  having  been  issued  by  banks 
chartered  previous  to  the  passage  of  the  free  banking  law.  There 
remain  but  twenty-three  of  these  banks  that  have  not  taken  steps  to 
finally  redeem  their  notes. 

SAVINGS-BANKS. 

There  were  one  hundred  and  sixty  savings-banks  on  the  first  day 
of  July  last.  Of  these  five  were  in  process  of  closing  their  business. 
Five  have  since  closed,  three  by  reason  of  insolvency.  The  new  gen 
eral  law  for  the  regulation  of  savings-banks  does  not  require  them  to 
report  in  July,  as  they  have  formerly  done.  The  aggregate  of  assets 
of  these  institutions,  as  appeared  from  informal  reports  made  to  the 
Bank  Department  for  the  first  of  July  last,  was  $336,308,236.43. 
Their  deposits  amounted  to  $316,335,617.82,  belonging  to  891,992 
depositors  as  represented  by  the  number  of  open  accounts  on  that 
date.  The  increase  in  deposits  during  the  six  months  ending  July  1st, 
last,  was  upward  of  twelve  millions  of  dollars,  and  the  number  of  de- 


SECOND  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  271 

positors  or  open  accounts  increased,  during  the  same  time,  19,494. 
The  total  increase  in  deposits  during  the  year  1874  was  $18,415,564, 
and,  in  the  number  of  depositors,  33,026.  The  aggregate  of  assets  as 
shown  above,  for  July  last,  was  not  made  up  in  the  same  manner  as 
that  for  January  1st,  last,  therefore  such  aggregate  cannot  be  used  for 
the  purpose  of  comparison.  The  estimated  amount  of  such  assets,  on 
the  first  of  July  last,  may,  however,  be  stated  at  three  hundred  and 
forty  millions  of  dollars. 

KECOMMENDATION   AS    TO    SAVINGS-BANKS. 

It  will  be  observed  that  the  number  of  depositors  in  the  savings- 
banks  in  this  State  is  larger  than  the  number  of  electors  who  have 
ever  voted  at  an  election ;  and  that  the  aggregate  of  their  deposits  is 
more  than  one-eighth  of  the  assessed  valuation  of  all  real  and  per 
sonal  property. 

In  view  of  the  fact  that  these  are  the  savings  of  the  industrious 
poor,  who  are  less  able  to  assert  and  protect  their  own  interests  than 
any  other  class  of  holders  of  such  vast  amounts  of  property,  it  is  an 
especial  duty  in  our  legislation  to  shield  them  from  injustice.  The 
absolute  safety  of  their  deposits  is  an  incentive  to  make  savings, 
which  is  an  important  object  of  public  policy. 

Frequent  reports  by  these  institutions  should  be  required.  The 
provisions  regulating  the  character  of  their  investments  should  be 
revised  with  a  view  to  secure  greater  safety.  New  guards  should  be 
instituted  against  the  tendency  of  administration  to  fall  into  favorit 
ism  toward  the  officers,  sure  to  prove  dangerous  to  the  trust ;  and  it 
should  be  inquired,  in  view  of  -the  recent  and  numerous  failures,  what 
defects  may  be  shown  to  exist  in  the  present  law,  and  whether  further 
penalties,  in  respect  to  maladministration,  can  be  provided. 

I  commend  the  subject  to  your  consideration. 

TEUST,    LOAN,    AND    INDEMNITY    COMPANIES. 

There  were  eleven  trust,  loan,  and  indemnity  companies  reporting 
to  the  Bank  Department,  July  1st,  last,  one  having  closed  its  business 
during  the  year  preceding.  A  new  trust  company  began  business 
September  1,  1875,  whose  capital  is  not  included  in  the  summary. 
The  aggregate  capital  of  these  corporations,  paid  in,  as  shown  by 
their  reports,  was  $11,584,475.  The  total  amount  of  their  assets  was 
$69,654,948,  and  the  amount  due  from  them  to  their  depositors  was 
$50,365,569. 

The  estimated  amount  of  assets,  held  July  1st,  by  banks,  savings- 


THE  LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

banks,  trust,  loan,  and  indemnity  companies,  was  $520,000,000.  The 
amount  due  to  their  depositors  was,  approximately,  $432,000,000  ; 
and  their  profits,  including  surplus  fund,  may  be  estimated  at  $89,- 
000,000. 

INSUEANCE    COMPANIES. 

The  number  of  insurance  companies  subject  to  the  supervision  of 
the  Insurance  Department,  on  the  19th  day  of  -November,  1875,  was 
281,  as  follows  : 

New  York  Joint  Stock  Fire  Insurance  Companies 102 

New  York  Mutual  Fire  Insurance  Companies 8 

New  York  Marine  Insurance  Companies 9 

New  York  Life  Insurance  Companies 22 

New  York  Plate-Glass  Insurance  Company 1 

Fire  Insurance  Companies  of  other  States 91 

Marine  Insurance  Companies  of  other  States 1 

Life  Insurance  Companies  of  other  States 25 

Casualty  Insurance  Companies  of  other  States 4 

Canadian  Fire  Insurance  Companies 3 

Foreign  Fire  Insurance  Companies 11 

Foreign  Marine  Insurance  Companies 4 

Total 281 

The  total  amount  of  stocks  and  mortgages  held  by  the  Insurance 
Department  for  the  protection  of  policy-holders  of  fire,  life,  and 
casualty  insurance  companies  of  this  State,  and  of  foreign  insurance 
companies  doing  business  within  it,  was  $11,036,053,  as  follows : 
For  protection  of  policy-holders  in  fire  insurance  companies  of 

this  State $400,000 

For  protection  of  policy-holders  generally  in  life  insurance  com 
panies  of  this  State 3,790,091 

For  protection  of  registered  policy-holders  exclusively 3,184,542 

For  protection  of  casualty  policy-holders  exclusively 1,000 

For  protection  of  plate-glass  policy-holders  exclusively 50,000 

For  protection  of  fire  policy-holders  in  insurance  companies  of 

other  States 60,000. 

For  protection  of  fire  policy-holders  in  insurance  companies  of 

Canada 643,120 

For  protection  of  fire  policy-holders  in  foreign  insurance  com 
panies 2,604,300 

For  protection  of  life  policy-holders  in  foreign  insurance  com 
panies 303,000 


Total  deposit $11 ,036,053 


SECOND  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  273 

The  assets  of  the  life  insurance  companies  of  this  State  amount 
to  nearly  two  hundred  millions  of  dollars,  the  amount  insured  by 
them  to  one  thousand  millions,  and  their  annual  receipts  to  more  than 
sixty  millions.  The  magnitude  of  these  sums,  and  the  duration  and 
fiduciary  character  of  the  engagements  of  these  corporations,  make  it 
specially  important  that  the  interests  of  the  policy-holders  should  be 
guarded  with  jealous  care. 

DEPKESSWN   IN   BUSINESS. 

It  cannot  be  doubted  that  large  classes  of  our  people  are  suffering 
great  inconvenience  from  the  present  state  of  trade  and  of  manu 
facturing  and  mechanical  industry,  and  from  the  decay  of  numerous 
enterprises.  Few  kinds  of  business  have  been  recently  carried  on  at 
a  profit.  Labor  finds  scanty  employment  even  at  reduced  wages. 
Incomes  are  lessened  or  fail  altogether.  Many  investments  have  be 
come  wholly  or  partially  unremunerative.  Property  is  shrinking, 
losing  for  the  time  its  circulatory  character,  and  becoming  unavaila 
ble  as  a  resource  to  pay  debts  or  to  raise  money.  It  is  not  a  con 
vulsion,  but  a  partial  paralysis.  There  is  nothing  of  what  is  called  a 
pressure  for  money ;  there  is  no  panic  ;  but  a  fear  to  lend  except  on 
certain  security;  and  a  timidity  in  borrowing  for  new  undertakings 
by  most  persons  of  prudence  or  credit. 

CAUSES. 

It  is  to  be  hoped  that,  amid  these  evils,  the  germs  of  a  better 
future  are  springing  up,  to  renew  in  their  origin  the  elements  of  indi 
vidual  and  social  prosperity ;  but  in  the  mean  time  attention  is  natu 
rally  drawn  to  the  causes  of  a  state  of  things  which  inflicts  so  much 
distress.  Such  seasons  have  recurred  at  intervals  in  the  experience 
of  this  and  other  countries.  They  have  usually  been  produced 
through  the  destruction  of  large  masses  of  capital  by  wars,  revolu 
tions,  conflagrations,  or  failure  of  crops,  or  by  a  temporary  mania 
for  bad  investments,  or  by  violent  reactions  of  credit.  The  known 
facts  of  our  recent  business  history  leave  no  doubt  as  to  the  origin  of 
the  state  of  things  we  are  -now  experiencing. 

WASTE    OF    NATIONAL    CAPITAL   BY    EXCESSIVE    GOVEKNMENTAL 
CONSUMPTION. 

Eleven  years  ago  our  country  emerged  from  a  vast  civil  conflict, 
in  which  its  aggregate  wealth  had  been  impaired  to  the  extent  of 
probably  two  thousand  millions  of  dollars  by  a  governmental  con- 


274  THE   LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

sumption  exceeding  the  whole  net  income  of  the  people  ;  to  say  noth 
ing  of  the  destruction  of  property,  industries,  and  productive  capaci 
ties  incident  to  military  operations. 

Never  was  it  more  necessary  that  peace  should  bring  healing  on 
its  wings. 

To  replace  the  capital  destroyed,  to  restore  the  elements  of  future 
natural  growth,  should  have  been  the  object  of  our  policy.  A  prompt 
reduction  of  the  enormous  governmental  expenditure  was  the  first 
condition.  A  renewal  of  the  industries  of  the  great  communities  of 
the  South,  which  produce  so  large  a  share  of  our  exports  and  raw 
material,  was  of  great  importance.  Energy,  skill,  and  economy  in 
production,  and  frugality  in  private  consumption,  the  wise  conduct 
of  business,  and  a  judicious  application  of  capital  and  labor,  were 
essential.  These  chief  elements  of  private  prosperity  were  depend 
ent  upon  public  conditions.  They  were  to  be  promoted  by  sound 
government  finance,  by  good  methods  of  revenue,  not  unduly  swell 
ing  the  cost  of  taxes  to  those  who  pay  them  beyond  their  produce  to 
the  Treasury ;  by  a  discreet  management  of  our  vast  fiscal  operations, 
and  of  the  currency  and  of  the  banking  system ;  by  a  sober  and 
stable  governmental  policy,  not  stimulating  to  speculative  adventures, 
not  inciting  miscalculations  in  business,  not  enhancing  charges  for 
services  and  risks  in  commercial  transactions. 

How  completely  these  conditions  have  been  reversed  during  the 
eleven  years  since  the  war,  appears  in  a  retrospect  of  the  actual 
events  of  that  period. 

PRESENT   SCALE    OF    GOVERNMENTAL   EXPENDITURE. 

The  extravagance  of  our  governmental  consumption  is  illustrated 
by  a  comparison  of  the  public  expenditures  of  1870 — five  years  after 
the  close  of  the  war— with  those  of  1860  and  1850  : 

TAXES   IN"   THE   UNITED   STATES*. 

1850  1860  1870 

Gold.  Gold.  Currency. 

Federal $40,000,000         $60.010,112         $450,000,000 

State,    county,   city, 

and  town 43,000,000  94,186,746  280,591,521 


$83,000,000       $154,196,858         $730,591,521 
Population 23,191,876  31,443,321  38,558,371 


SECOND  ANNUAL   MESSAGE. 

TAXES    TEE    HEAD. 

1850,  1860.  1870. 

Federal $1.72  $1.91  $11.67 

Local 1.85  2.99  7.24 


$3.57  $4.90  $18.91 

AGGEEGATE   TAXATION   OF   ELEVEN   YEAES. 

The  aggregate  Federal  taxation  of  the  eleven  years  now  closing, 
computed,  in  currency,  from  the  official  statements,  is  more  than 
$4,500,000,000.  The  local  taxation,  assuming  the  census  statement 
for  1870  as  an  average,  is  more  than  $3,000,000,000.  The  aggregate 
taxation  exceeds  $7,500,000,000. 

ITS   EELATION   TO   NATIONAL   SAVINGS. 

The  daily  wants  of  the  masses  of  mankind,  even  in  the  most  pro 
ductive  and  prosperous  countries,  press  closely  upon  their  daily  earn 
ings.  It  is  only  a  small  portion  of  their  current  income  which  they 
are  able  to  save  and' to  accumulate. 

In  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  despite  the  wealth  which  their  peo 
ple  have  long  been  storing  up,  especially  in  machinery  and  moneyed 
capital ;  despite  the  yearly  influx  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  million 
dollars  from  interest  on  investments  in  other  countries,  the  annual 
growth  of  wealth  from  the  savings  of  all  their  people  is  not  deemed 
by  the  best  authorities  to  exceed  six  or  seven  hundred  million  dol 
lars. 

The  accumulated  wealth  of  the  United  States  is  the  result  of  a 
shorter  period  of  growth,  ancl  is  less  in  amount.  We  have  to  pay  to 
foreign  creditors  annually,  in  coin,  more  than  $100,000,000.  We 
are  richer  in  the  natural  powers  of  the  soil ;  and  our  labor  is,  on  the 
whole,  more  efficient.  We  earn  more,  but  have  less  disposition  to 
save,  and  less  of  the  habit  of  saving. 

SUCH   CONSUMPTION    GEEATLT   EXCESSIVE. 

A  governmental  consumption  in  every  year,  in  bad  as  well  as 
good  years,  must  be  considered  greatly  excessive  when  it  amounts  to 
a  share  of  the  national  earnings  larger  than  the  whole  people  are 
able  to  save  in  prosperous  times  for  all  new  investments  ;  for  erect 
ing  dwellings  and  other  buildings ;  for  improving  farms,  increasing 
the  stock  of  live  animals  and  of  agricultural  implements;  for  all 
manufacturing  and  mechanical  constructions  and  machinery;  for  all 


2 70  THE   LIFE   OF  SAMUEL   J.   TILDEX. 

warehouses  and  stores,  and  increased  supplies  of  merchandise ;  for 
ships  and  steamers,  and  telegraphs,  and  railroads,  and  their  equip 
ments  ;  for  all  objects  which  individual  and  corporate  enterprise  pro 
vide  for  the  future,  in  the  progress  of  a  populous  and  rapidly-growing 
community. 

INCIDENTAL   EVILS. 

Such  taxation  is  in  itself  a  monstrous  evil ;  and  its  incidents  ag 
gravate  its  direct  injuries.  When  the  exaction  from  the  people  was, 
as  in  1860,  one-quarter  of  its  present  amount  per  head,  even  if  it 
were  unscientific  and  unskillful  in  the  levy,  the  mischief  was  compara 
tively  inconsiderable.  But  with  the  quadruplication  of  the  exaction, 
the  difficulty  of  obtaining  good  methods  of  imposing  it  is  greatly 
increased,  and  the  mischiefs  of  bad  methods  become  wellnigh  intol 
erable. 

When  governments  take  from  the  people,  for  official  expenditure, 
nearly  all  the  surplus  earnings  of  individuals,  science  and  skill  in  the 
art  of  taxation  become  necessary — necessary  to  preserve  and  enlarge 
the  revenue — necessary  to  gild  the  infliction  to  the  tax-payers.  Our 
present  situation  is  that  we  have  more  than  European  burdens,  as 
seen  in  the  most  costly  governments  of  the  richest  of  modern  nations, 
supporting  immense  navies  and  armies  and  public  debts ;  and  to  these 
burdens  we  have  conjoined  an  ignorance  and  incompetency  in  dealing 
with  them  which  is  peculiarly  our  own.  We  have  not  yet  acquired 
the  arts  belonging  to  a  system  which  the  founders  of  American  Gov 
ernment  warned  us  against,  and  fondly  believed  would  never  exist  in 
this  country. 

• 

SACRIFICE    CAUSED   BY   UNSKILLFUL   MODES    OF    TAXATION. 

The  consequence  is,  that  the  pecuniary  sacrifices  of  the  people  are 
not  to  be  measured  by  the  receipts  into  the  Treasury.  They  are  vastly 
greater.  A  tax  that  starts  in  its  career  by  disturbing  the  natural 
courses  of  private  industry,  and  impairing  the  productive  power  of 
labor,  and  then  comes  to  the  consumer,  distended  by  profits  of  suc 
cessive  intermediaries,  and  by  insurance  against  the  risks  of  a  fickle 
or  uncertain  governmental  policy,  and  of  a  fluctuating  governmental 
standard  of  value — blights  human  well-being  at  every  step.  When 
it  reaches  the  hapless  child  of  toil,  who  buys  his  bread  by  the  single 
loaf,  and  his  fuel  by  the  basket,  it  devours  his  earnings  and  inflicts 
starvation. 


SECOND  ANNUAL   MESSAGE.  277 

A.    GOVERNMENTAL    CLASS    OF    TAX-CONSUMERS. 

Another  evil  of  such  a  system  of  excessive  taxation  is,  that  it 
creates  and  nourishes  a  governmental  class — witU  tendencies  to  lessen 
services  and  to  enlarge  compensation,  to  multiply  retainers,  to  invent 
jobs  and  foster  all  forms  of  expenditure — tendencies  unrestrained  by 
the  watchful  eye  and  firm  hand  of  personal  interest,  which  alone  ena 
ble  private  business  to  be  carried  on  successfully.  In  other  countries 
such  a  class  has  found  itself  able,  sometimes  by  its  own  influence  and 
sometimes  in  alliance  with  the  army,  to  rule  the  unorganized  masses. 

In  our  country  it  has  become  a  great  power,  acting  on  the  elections 
by  all  the  methods  of  organization,  of  propagating  opinion,  of  influ 
ence  and  of  corruption.  The  system,  like  every  living  thing,  strug 
gles  to  perpetuate  its  own  existence. 

Every  useful  and  necessary  governmental  service,  at  a  proper  cost, 
is  productive  labor.  Every  excess  beyond  that,  so  far  as  it  is  saved 
by  the  official,  merely  transfers  to  Mm  what  belongs  to  the  people. 
So  far  as  such  excess  is  consumed,  it  is  a  waste  of  capital,  as  absolute 
as  if  wheat  of  equal  value  were  destroyed  by  fire  or  gold  were  sunk 
in  the  ocean. 

WASTE    LARGER    THAN   NATIONAL   DEBT. 

Probably  such  waste  by  govermental  expenditure  in  the  eleven 
years  since  the  war  amounts  to,  at  least,  as  much  as  our  present  na 
tional  debt. 

MISGOVERNMENT    IN    THE    SOUTH. 

It  cannot  be  doubted  that  the  systematic  and  extreme  misgovern- 
ment  imposed  on  the  States  of  the  South  has  greatly  detracted  from 
our  national  prosperity.  In  those  impoverished  communities  it  has 
not  stopped  with  the  ordinary  effects  of  ignorant  and  dishonest  ad 
ministration.  It  has  inflicted  upon  them  enormous  issues  of  fraudu 
lent  bonds,  the  scanty  avails  of  which  were  wasted  or  stolen,  and  the 
existence  of  which  is  a  public  discredit,  tending  to  bankruptcy  or 
repudiation.  Its  taxes,  generally  oppressive,  in  some  instances  have 
confiscated  the  entire  income  of  property,  and  totally  destroyed  the 
marketable  value. 

ITS    EFFECTS. 

In  a  region  five  times  as  large  as  the  British  Isles  and  three  times 
as  large  as  France,  abounding  in  all  the  elements  of  natural  wealth,  it 
has  destroyed  confidence  and  credit  in  all  transactions,  diffused  un- 


278  THE  LIFE   OF  SAMUEL   J.  TILDEN. 

certainty  and  distrust  everywhere,  and  consumed  existing  capital, 
while  retarding  production  and  paralyzing  the  enterprise  by  which 
such  waste  might  be  repaired  and  future  growth  assured. 

HOW   IT   IS    MAINTAINED. 

This  system,  after  its  character  became  known  to  us  as  well  as  to 
those  directly  affected,  abhorred  by  all  the  intellect  and  virtue  of  the 
communities  in  which  it  exists,  and  by  their  public  opinion,  has  been 
maintained  through  long  years  by  the  favor  and  patronage  of  the 
Federal  Government — by  the  moral  coercion  of  its  prestige — by  the 
standing  menace  and  occasional  exercise  of  its  military  power. 

ESTJUEY    TO    OUE    OWN    PEOSPEEITY. 

It  is  impossible  that  such  wrongs  should  not  react  upon  us.  The 
immediate  sufferers  by  it  are  the  producers  of  four-tenths  of  the  ex 
ported  commodities,  excluding  specie,  of  our  whole  forty  millions  of 
people,  and  of  the  most  important  raw  materials  of  our  own  domestic 
manufactures.  They  are  agricultural  communities,  which,  more  than 
any  others,  sell  what  they  produce  and  buy  what  they  consume. 
They  are  our  most  valuable  customers  for  the  products  of  our  own 
industries  and  for  our  merchandise ;  and  they  make  us  factors  in  all 
their  transactions.  The  State  of  New  York,  which  contains  the  com 
mercial  metropolis,  receives  the  largest  injury  ;  but  its  consequences 
extend  throughout  the  whole  country. 

EXCESSIVE    SPECULATION. 

Other  influences  have  been  at  work  to  deteriorate  the  financial 
condition  of  our  people.  The  period  has  been  full  of  tendencies  to 
unsoundness  in  the  management  of  private  business,  and  in  the  habits 
of  families  and  individuals. 

A  series  of  speculative  excitements  has  incited  to  enterprises 
which  have  turned  out  to  be  unremunerative,  and  to  investments 
which  fail  to  yield  revenue  and  have  lost  their  salable  value.  The 
capital  embarked  in  such  undertakings  is  destroyed.  Large  classes  find 
their  incomes  diminished,  and  their  convertible  property  reduced. 

OVEETEADING. 

Even  the  operations  of  regular  business  partook  of  the  spirit  of 
the  times,  and  became  too  much  expanded.  Profits  which  came  in 
part  from  the  swelling  of  nominal  prices,  tempted  those  who  were 


SECOND  ANNUAL   MESSAGE.  279 

unexpectedly  enriched  to  count  on  their  continuance,  and  to  enlarge 
their  undertakings  or  engagements  under  that  illusion. 

One  who  had  half  his  capital  invested  in  land,  and  buildings,  and 
machinery,  which  is  called  fixed  capital — and  half  invested  in  raw 
materials  and  funds  to  employ  workmen,  which  is  called  circulating 
capital,  and  was  doing  a  safe  and  easy  business — was  induced,  for  the 
purpose  of  enlarging  that  business,  to  double  his  investment  in  fixed 
forms.  He,  therefore,  needed  double  the  circulating  capital ;  and, 
instead  of  owning  it  all,  had  to  borrow  it  all.  The  turn  of  the  times 
disabled  him  from  selling  an  enlarged  product,  or  perhaps  even  an 
equal  product,  or  of  selling  without  loss ;  and,  when  he  needed  loans 
to  double  the  amount  of  his  former  floating  capital,  in  order  to  carry 
on  his  business,  and  more  in  order  to  hold  his  product  for  a  revival 
of  the  market,  he  found  that  lenders  had  become  timid. 

Another  discovered  that  an  enterprise  which  may  be  good  takes 
longer  to  bring  returns  than  he  anticipated. 

Another  began  when  credit  was  easy,  and  failed  to  foresee  how 
changeable  that  condition  is;  and,  even  though  his  hopes  of  profit 
were  undiminished,  found  it  difficult  to  carry  his  loans. 

EFFECTS    GEXEEAL. 

When  large  classes  suffer  under  the  effects  of  these  miscalculations, 
the  influence  will  extend,  more  or  less,  to  nearly  all  the  community. 

A  period  of  falling  prices  following  a  period  of  rising  prices  gen 
erates  such  results.  Great  fluctuations  in  the  hopes  and  opinion  of. 
the  public,  creating  vicissitudes  of  credit,  are  the  secondary  cause,  as 
they  are  themselves  the  results  of  some  primary  cause. 

EXAGGEEATED    COST    OF    MIDDLEMEN. 

An  outgrowth  of  the  same  morbid  condition  is  the  unusual  and 
unreasonable  disparity  now  existing  between  the  wholesale  price 
which  the  producer  receives,  and  the  retail  price  which  the  consumer 
pays.  No  doubt  prolonged  fluctuation  in  prices  tends,  during  the  up 
ward  movement,  to  increase  the  charges  of  middlemen,  and  to  enlarge 
the  class.  But  the  root  of  the  evil  is  the  uncertainty  and  instability. 
The  importer  adds  to  the  price  of  every  article  he  imports,  the  ex 
porter  reduces  the  price  he  pays  for  every  article  he  exports,  as  insur 
ance  against  the  possible  variation  in  the  value  of  greenbacks  when 
converted  into  the  money  of  the  world,  and  against  the  possible 
changes  of  governmental  policy  at  Washington. 


280  THE  LIFE   OF  SAMUEL   J.   TILDEN. 

Nor  can  it  be  doubted  that  the  condition  of  things  has  been  un 
favorable  to  economy  and  efficiency  in  the  management  of  business 
to  frugality  in  private  expenditure,  and  to  energy  in  production. 

Such  are  the  immediate  causes  which  have  occasioned  excessive 
and  unnatural  consumption  of  our  national  capital,  and  which  have 
retarded  the  natural  processes  of  repair  and  growth  during  the  last 
eleven  years. 

What  are  the  ultimate  causes,  and  what  are  the 'remedies? 

NEW   YORK'S   INTEREST   IN   THESE    QUESTIONS. 

To  the  people  of  this  State  these  are  interesting  inquiries.  In 
1874  our  State  tax  was  nearly  $16,000,000.  Our  local  taxes  were 
over  $42,000,000.  Our  share  of  the  taxes  of  the  Federal  Government, 
on  the  average  of  eleven  years,  if  computed  on  population,  would 
exceed  $50,000,000,  or  if  computed  on  consumption,  according  to  the 
estimate  of  the  Finance  Committee  of  the  Constitutional  Convention 
of  1867,  would  for  the  year  exceed  $80,000,000. 

ACTION    OF    FEDERAL   GOVERNMENT    THE    ULTIMATE    CAUSE. 

The  Federal  Government  has  the  direct  and  exclusive  responsibili 
ty  for  its  own  immense  expenditure,  and  for  its  calamitous  policy  in 
respect  to  the  great  producing  States  of  the  South. 

It  has  likewise  controlled  the  currency  and  the  banking  of  the 
country.  It  has  been  the  principal  dealer  in  the  precious  metals.  It 
has  conducted  vast  fiscal  transactions.  Its  financial  Secretary  has 
held  in  his  hand  from  day  to  day  the  supply  and  the  rates  of  the 
loan-market  in  the  centre  of  capital  and  commerce,  the  terms  of  our 
foreign  exchanges,  the  prices  of  exports  and  imports,  the  quality  of 
the  circulating  medium,  the  fluctuating  standard  of  values  recognized 
by  law  as  the  rule  in  all  dealings  and  all  contracts. 

By  the  force  of  its  example,  by  its  ascendency  over  opinion  ac 
quired  in  a  period  of  public  danger,  during  which  the  people  formed 
the  habit  of  following  its  leadership,  by  its  means  of  propagating  the 
ideas  according  to  which  its  own  operations  were  conducted,  by  all 
these  as  well  as  by  the  direct  effects  of  its  action,  its  measures,  and  its 
policy,  the  Federal  Government  has,  therefore,  practically  dominated 
over  all  business  and  all  industries,  and  created  conditions  which 
shape  the  conduct  of  individuals  in  their  production  and  consumption, 
and  of  local  governments  in  their  expenditures,  taxation,  and  creation 
of  debt. 


SECOND  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  281 

FALSE    EEMEDIES. 

It  is  natural  that  such  a  condition  of  men's  business  affairs  should 
be  prolific  of  illusory  and  mischievous  schemes  for  relief.  A  vague 
notion  is  extensively  entertained  that  a  new  issue  of  legal-tender 
notes  would  afford  an  effectual  remedy.  This  fallacy  is  largely  due  to 
the  false  theory  pervading  nearly  all  the  literature  of  political  economy 
as  to  the  agency  which  the  quantity  of  the  currency,  even  when 
equivalent  to  coin,  has  in  causing  cycles  of  high  and  low  prices. 

EEEONEOUS    TIIEOEY. 

As  high  prices  and  expanded  currency,  and  low  prices  and  con 
tracted  currency,  have  been  usually  found  together,  the  effect  has 
been  mistaken  for  the  cause.  It  is  often  assumed  that  the  banks, 
even  when  redeeming  their  notes  in  coin,  can  expand  their  issues  in 
excess  of  the  needs  of  the  community,  and  thereby  originate  and  con 
summate  a  general  and  prolonged  rise  of  prices. 

ANALYSIS    OF    THE    FACTS. 

An  analysis  of  the  function  of  the  convertible  bank-note,  or  of  the 
processes  by  which  cycles  of  high  prices  occur,  will  equally  confute 
this  opinion.  A  study  of  the  order  of  the  events  which  have  hap 
pened  in  periods  of  rising  prices  in  England  and  the  United  States, 
under  a  convertible  currency,  shows  that  usually  the  speculative 
movement  at  all  stages  precedes  the  increase  of  bank-notes. 

BANK-NOTES   AN   INSIGNIFICANT    PAKT  OF    CEEDIT    MACIIINEEY. 

The  convertible  bank-note  is  but  a  small  portion  of  the  instru 
ments  of  credit  used  in  a  commercial  country.  It  is  adapted  to  the 
wants  of  persons  who  do  not  keep  bank  accounts,  and  the  wants,  in 
petty  transactions,  of  those  who  do  keep  bank  accounts.  It  bears  no 
interest ;  and  the  holder  has  a  motive  to  keep  on  hand  only  so  much 
as  he  thinks  he  may  require  for  expected  or  possible  purchases  or 
payments,  and  to  invest  or  lend  the  surplus  so  that  it  will  become 
productive. 

If  a  bank  lends  its  note  to  a  borrower  to  make  a  payment  or  a 
purchase,  the  use  for  that  purpose  is  but  for  an  instant.  Unless  the 
note  is  received  by  or  passed  to  some  person  who  detains  it  for  a 
future  purpose,  it  immediately  goes  back  to  the  issuer  through  the 
exchanges  with  other  banks.  It  has  to  be  redeemed  by  reducing 
other  loans,  or  by  a  temporary  loss  of  a  portion  of  the  usual  reserve 


282  THE   LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.    TILDEN. 

of  the  issuer.  The  life  of  a  bank-note  is  made  up  of  a  succession  of 
instantaneous  uses,  alternating  with  a  succession  of  prolonged  deten 
tions. 

The  quantity  that  will  stay  out  at  any  given  time  depends  mainly 
on  the  expectancy  of  individuals  as  to  future  transactions,  and,  in  a 
lesser  degree,  on  the  state  of  prices,  which  vary  the  amount  used  in 
the  same  transaction.  In  times  of  rising  speculation  the  wants  of 
the  community  absorb  a  larger  quantity.  Each  transaction  employs 
an  amount  enlarged  in  proportion  to  the  enhanced  prices  ;  transactions 
become  more  frequent,  and  the  detentions  of  the  means  of  future 
transactions  are  increased  by  a  greater  disposition  to  make  them,  and 
less  care  to  economize  interest. 

It  is  the  competition  of  buyers  which  puts  up  prices  in  a  period 
of  speculation.  Bank-notes  have  infinitely  less  to  do  with  originating 
speculation,  or  even  furnishing  the  means  whereby  it  can  be  sus 
tained,  than  the  other  parts  of  the  machinery  of  credit. 

Bank-notes,  or  currency  as  they  are  called,  are  but  an  insignifi 
cant  portion  of  the  means  of  purchase  or  payment.  The  transac 
tions  effected  by  check,  operating  to  transfer  bank  deposits,  in  the 
city  of  New  York  amount  now  in  every  eight  days — and  some  years 
ago  amounted  in  every  five  days — to  as  large  a  sum  as  all  the  legal 
tenders  and  bank-notes  in  the  hands  of  the  people  of  the  whole 
United  States.  The  payments  effected  at  the  London  Clearing- 
House  amount  in  every  two  days  to  as  much  as  the  whole  circulat 
ing  medium  of  the  United  Kingdom.  The  other  instruments  of 
credit  by  which  business  is  carried  on — such  as  book  accounts,  notes 
of  hand,  bills  of  exchange,  drafts,  checks  on  bank  deposit — are  thus 
many  times  the  volume  of  bank-notes. 

OTHEE  INSTRUMENTS  OF  CEEDIT  PEEFEEEED. 

Speculative  purchases  are  nearly  always  initiated  by  the  use  of 
personal  credit.  In  such  times  confidence  is  high  ;  credit  is  freely 
given  and  readily  accepted.  The  transactions  are  generally  made  on 
book  accounts  or  notes  of  hand.  These  are  at  the  command  of  the 
buyers  in  unlimited  amount,  and  without  delay  or  inconvenience. 
Bank  credits,  called  deposits — like  bank-notes — can  be  obtained 
only  by  borrowing.  For  such  purposes  bank-notes  are  only  used  in 
small  transactions,  and  to  a  comparatively  insignificant  extent. 

BANK-NOTES    SLOW   AND   DIFFICULT    OF   INCEEASB. 

The  issue  of  bank-notes,  if  not  limited  to  a  fixed  amount,  is  gen- 


SECOND  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  283 

erally  restrained  by  laws  which  require  a  deposit  of  securities  with 
the  Government ;  and  the  process  of  issue  is  so  slow  and  inconven 
ient  that  a  sudden  and  large  increase  is  not  possible.  Those  that  are 
in  the  hands  of  the  public  cannot  easily  be  collected  in  large  amounts, 
but  are  scattered  in  small  sums  among  millions  of  holders  through 
out  a  continent. 

CONCLUSION. 

On  the  whole,  then,  it  is  demonstrable  that  bank-notes,  or  cur 
rency,  when  convertible,  have  less  agency  in  originating  or  facilitat 
ing  a  general  speculation  than  any  other  portion  of  the  vast  machin 
ery  of  credit  of  which  they  form  so  inconsiderable  a  part.  The  false 
theory  that  they  are  the  master-cause  of  prices  and  fluctuations  of 
prices,  and  that  a  governmental  regulation  of  their  volume  will  avert 
the  tremendous  vicissitudes  in  business  to  which  commercial  coun 
tries,  carrying  on  vast  credit  transactions,  are  periodically  subject,  was 
the  basis  of  the  plan  adopted  in  1844,  on  the  recharter  of  the  Bank  of 
England.  The  theory  was  then  seen,  by  a  few  of  the  best  thinkers, 
to  be  destitute  of  truth.  It  has  since  been  completely  refuted  by 
experience. 

A    PROLIFIC    FALLACY. 

In  the  infancy  of  the  very  modern  science  of  political  economy,  a 
metaphor  was  accepted  as  an  axiom.  It  was  said  that,  if  purchasers 
should  suddenly  find  two  gold-coins  for  one  in  their  pockets,  they 
would  pay  double  price  for  commodities.  The  proposition  has  no 
truth  in  it,  except  by  assuming  as  a  condition  the  result  to  be  proved. 
It  would  not  be  true  of  any  one  buyer.  It  could  not  be  true  of  all 
collectively,  unless  a  fall  in  the  value  of  gold  had  previously  hap 
pened.  The  increased  quantity  could  exist  only  as  a  consequence  of 
an  increased  demand  at  the  same  value,  or  of  a  decline  in  the  cost 
of  production.  In  modern  times,  the  increase  in  wealth  and  com 
merce  is  many  fold  the  increase  of  population.  The  medium  of  ex 
change  required  is  vastly  larger  than  the  accumulation  of  the  precious 
metals,  and  an  increased  extension  of  credit  machinery  has  become 
necessary.  Bank-notes,  or  other  circulating  credits,  cost  as  much  to 
all  save  the  issuer  as  an  equal  value  in  coin.  They  have  to  be  paid 
for  by  all  who  use  them. 

If  individuals  prefer  to  use  coin  to  even  a  small  proportion  of 
their  ability,  or  to  hold  their  savings  or  reserves  in  coin ;  if  traders, 
commercial  companies,  and  governments  increase  their  reserved  stocks 


284  THE  LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.   TILDEK 

of  bullion  to  even  a  small  percentage  of  the  extension  of  their  opera 
tions,  the  absorption  would  outrun  the  production  of  the  precious 
metals,  taking  no  account  of  the  insatiable  demand  of  the  Asiatic 
nations. 

PRICE   NOT    A    EATIO    TO    QUANTITY. 

The  fact  is,  that  price  is  not  a  mathematical  ratio  to  be  computed 
like  a  logarithm.  The  variations  of  the  market  are  estimated  by 
reasoning  beings  on  the  best  judgment  they  can  form  of  the  happen 
ing  and  the  effect  of  future  events.  The  laws  of  market  or  temporary 
price  are  different  in  every  case.  An  excess  of  oranges  which  perish 
in  a  few  days,  or  of  artificial  flowers  which  go  out  of  fashion,  is 
worthless.  An  excess  of  gold,  which  is  indestructible,  and  easy,  cheap 
and  safe  to  hold,  involves  a  loss  of  interest,  at  the  lowest  rate,  for  the 
period  it  is  likely  to  remain  on  hand. 

LAW    OF    DEPRECIATION    OF    INCONVERTIBLE    CURRENCY. 

The  depreciation  of  our  legal-tender  Treasury  notes  is  not  to  be 
measured  by  any  arithmetical  formula.  The  law  which  governs  it  is 
the  discount  for  interest  until  the  probable  time  of  payment,  and  for 
insurance  against  ris£,  as  those  two  elements  are  estimated  by  the 
general  judgment  of  investors.  To  create  a  demand  for  it,  by  re 
ceiving  it  in  government  transactions,  or  to  reduce  its  supply  below 
the  demands  created  by  law  from  individuals  for  use  as  legal  tenders, 
is  for  the  Government  to  make  an  artificial  market,  which  operates, 
so  far  forth,  as  a  practical  redemption. 

HOW   ISSUES    OF    LEGAL   TENDERS    INFLATED    PRICES. 

It  is  consistent  with  this  reasoning  to  admit  and  assert  that  the 
issue  of  legal-tender  Treasury  notes,  during  the  late  civil  war,  exerted 
great  power  over  prices.  It  acted  on  the  public  imagination  in  re 
spect  to  future  values.  It  excited  great  distrust  that  the  Government, 
instead  of  having  recourse  for  its  means  of  war  expenditure  to  the 
vast  mass  of  our  national  wealth  by  loans  and  taxes,  resorted  to  a 
debasement  of  the  comparatively  insignificant  fund  of  circulating 
credits  with  which  private  business  is  carried  on.  It  excited  a  grave 
sense  of  doubt  how  often,  and  to  what  extent,  it  might  recur  to  so 
dangerous  an  expedient ;  great  misgiving  as  to  the  time  and  the  cer 
tainty  of  ultimate  redemption.  Under  these  influences,  in  the  vicis 
situdes  of  military  operations,  the  discount  became  large — touching, 
at  its  extreme  point,  sixty-five  per  cent,  on  the  par  value  of  the  issues. 


SECOND  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  285 

INFLUENCE    OF    OPINION   AND   IMAGINATION. 

The  human  imagination  seldom  fails  to  exaggerate  any  desired  or 
dreaded  reality  to  which  it  looks  forward,  and  it  acts  a  great  part  in 
those  cycles  of  ascending  prices  and  descending  prices  which  happen 
in  highly-commercial  countries.  The  origin  is,  in  some  event  creat 
ing  an  anticipation  of  a  rise  in  the  market  value  of  one  or  more 
commodities,  which  extends  as  by  contagion  to  others — or  in  an  ex 
pectation  of  a  general  rise  of  prices.  The  upward  movement  some 
times  continues  for  several  years.  The  excitement  begins  with  deal 
ers  for  profit  or  speculation.  The  instruments  of  credit  first  brought 
into  requisition,  are  those  which  are  commonly  used  by  these  classes. 
The  small  consumers  are  the  last  reached.  Then  bank-notes  are  ex 
panded  ;  and  they  generally  continue  to  increase  for  some  time  after 
the  downward  turn  of  the  speculation. 

EEAOTION. 

The  reaction  would  take  place  by  the  mere  exhaustion  of  the 
speculative  impulse.  Sometimes  it  does  happen  without  any  other 
cause.  A  speculative  movement,  when  it  ceases  to  go  upward,  can 
but  fall.  But  often  some  special  cause  intervenes  to  precipitate  the 
catastrophe. 

CAUSES    OF    PRESENT    EEAOTION. 

In  our  present  case,  the  most  important  cause  of  reaction  is  the 
immense  waste  of  our  capital,  which  has  gone  on  in  all  the  modes 
described,  and  especially  by  excessive  governmental  consumption.  An 
accessory  cause  is  the  fall  in  prices  of  many  of  our  staples,  which 
are  now  produced  in  excess  of  the  capacity  of  private  consumption 
by  an  impoverished  people.  There  are  also  moral  causes  acting  on 
the  public  mind.  A  popular  error  existed  that  prices  would  not  fall 
so  long  as  the  volume  of  legal  tenders  and  bank-notes  continued  un- 
diminished.  Many  made  their  business  calculations  on  that  theory, 
and  are  disappointed,  and  their  confidence  in  their  own  opinions  un 
settled. 

These  special  causes,  in  addition  to  the  natural  exhaustion  of  a 
fictitious  excitement,  broke  the  public  illusions,  which  had  been  gen 
erated  by  false  systems  and  false  theories.  A  great  change  ensued  in 
the  opinion  and  feeling  of  the  people  in  confidence  and  credit,  in  the 
voluntary  machinery  of  business,  which  expands  and  contracts  ac 
cording  to  the  fluctuating  temper  and  purposes  of  individuals.  A 
corresponding  fall  of  prices  resulted. 


286  THE   LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

CURRENCY    EXPANSION   FAILED   TO    STOP   REACTION. 

But  the  quantity  of  legal  tenders  and  bank-notes  in  the  hands  of 
the  public  had  not  been  diminished.  The  quantity,  excluding  those 
held  by  the  Treasury  and  the  banks,  was  larger  at  the  crisis  in  Sep 
tember  and  October,  1873,  than  at  any  previous  time.  Yet  the  con 
tinuance  of  the  volume  of  the  currency — the  enlargement  of  it  did 
not  inflate  prices — did  not  even  stay  the  fall  of  prices. 

MODERATE    ISSUE   FUTILE. 

In  such  a  state  of  facts,  it  is  obvious  how  utterly  futile  to  arrest, 
how  more  than  futile  to  reverse,  the  operation  of  these  potent  causes 
would  be  a  new  issue  of  any  moderate  quantity  of  legal  tenders. 

A  sudden  and  unexpected  deficiency  of  currency  sometimes  hap 
pens  ;  and,  before  business  can  be  adapted  to  the  new  condition,  or 
can  find  a  substitute  in  some  other  instrument  of  exchange,  much 
temporary  inconvenience  may  be  felt. 

Such  a  state  of  things — to  which  a  new  issue  might  be  adapted 
— does  not  exist.  On  the  contrary,  there  is  assuredly  an  adequate 
supply  of  currency  for  the  wants  of  business — and  even  a  surplus. 
In  eight  years  out  of  ten,  the  demand  for  from  five  to  ten  per  cent, 
additional  currency  in  the  autumn,  to  move  the  crops,  creates  what  is 
called  a  "fall  pinch."  There  was  none  in  1875.  The  surplus  cur 
rency  previously  on  hand  more  than  provided  for  that  special  tempo 
rary  demand.  The  banks  continued  to  lend  their  balances  on  call  at 
low  rates.  The  tendency  to  reduce  the  circulation  because  of  the 
lack  of  profitable  employment  is  still  manifest.  The  New  York  City 
banks  reduced  their  outstanding  notes,  between  1873  and  1875,  from 
$28,000,000  to  less  than  $18,000,000. 

WOULD   NOT   RELIEVE    EMBARRASSMENT. 

NOT  would  such  an  additional  issue  of  legal  tenders  give  any  di 
rect  relief  to  embarrassed  persons.  The  notes  issued  would  have  to 
be  paid  for.  The  difficulty  with  embarrassed  persons  is,  that  they 
have  not  available  property  to  convert  into  currency.  If  they  had, 
the  conversion  could  be  as  well  effected  with  the  existing  mass  of 
currency  as  after  such  a  new  issue. 

Nor  would  any  moderate  issue  of  legal  tenders  have  the  least 
power  to  revive  the  condition  of  business  through  which  we  have 
passed  ;  the  condition  of  high  and  rising  prices — of  universal  dispo 
sition  to  enlarge  operations,  undertake  new  enterprises,  and  enter 


SECOND  ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  287 

into  new  speculations — of  unsound  confidence  and  reckless  use  of 
credit ;  a  condition  which  imparted  an  apparent  but  fictitious  pros 
perity  to  everything  and  everybody,  and  furnished  an  unnatural 
market  for  all  property.  Experience  shows  that,  after  such  a  state 
of  business,  a  period  follows  in  which  the  opposite  ideas  and  feelings 
prevail.  Such  is  the  case  now.  With  all  the  agencies  having  real 
power  to  create  such  a  condition  of  business,  operating  strongly  in 
the  contrary  direction,  the  effort  to  reproduce  that  condition,  by  an 
agency  never  capable  of  much  effect}  would  be  perfectly  futile.  If 
the  Treasury  should  pay  out  a  moderate  additional  quantity  of  legal 
tenders,  they  would  not  go  into  circulation  or  act  on  prices.  They 
would  merely  accumulate  in  the  money  centres  and  reduce  the  rate 
of  call  loans  of  bankers'  balances. 

INDEFINITE    ISSUE    WOULD,    MODEEATE    ISSUE     MIGHT,    CAUSE    DISASTER. 

It  would  be  only  by  a  large  issue,  or  the  menace  of  a  large  or 
indefinite  issue,  that  a  decided  effect  on  prices  could  be  produced. 
That  would  create  alarm  of  such  an  impending  depreciation  as  to 
threaten  creditors  with  a  confiscation  of  their  debts,  and  holders 
of  currency  with  its  loss  ;  and  they  would  hasten  to  exchange  it  for 
property.  Any  issue,  which  should  act  on  the  imagination,  inciting 
wild  estimates  or  wild  fears  of  the  future,  might  induce  a  speculative 
depreciation  of  the  price  of  the  currency  and  inflation  of  the  prices 
of  property. 

The  evil,  even  of  a  moderate  issue,  when  the  currency  already 
exceeds  the  wants  of  business,  and  the  increase  cannot  be  pretended 
to  be  for  any  legitimate  purpose,  especially  if  the  object  of  removing 
individual  distress  by  creating  fictitious  prices  be  avowed,  is  that  it 
strikes  at  the  root  of  all  confidence  and  all  credit.  If  the  principle 
be  once  adopted,  everybody  will  inquire  how  often  such  an  expedient 
may  be  repeated,  how  far  it  may  be  carried. 

An  attempted  expansion  of  the  petty  volume  of  the  currency, 
under  circumstances  which  cause  a  real  contraction  of  the  whole 
vaster  volume  of  credit  machinery,  which  fill  all  lenders  with  dismay, 
and  which  destroy  public  confidence,  hope,  and  faith,  that  are  the 
basis  of  credit  systems  and  credit  operations,  is  self-destructive.  It 
can  be  prolific  of  nothing  but  general  disaster. 

SOUND   FINANCE    DEMANDED. 

The  temper  which  now  predominates  among  the  people  revolts 
at  financial  quackery.  It  is  -no  longer  susceptible  to  flattering  illu- 


288  THE   LIFE  OF  SAMUEL  J.   TILDEN. 

sions  which  have  exploded  amid  the  wrecks  of  individual  fortunes 
and  private  prosperity.  It  is  excessively  incredulous.  It  demands 
sound  measures,  such  as  commend  themselves  to  the  judgment  of  the 
best  intellects  and  the  best  experience. 

SPECIE   PAYMENTS    WITHOUT    CONVULSION". 

After  eleven  years  of  convulsion  without  a  restoration  of  specie 
payments,  it  now  claims  a  restoration  of  specie  payments  without  a 
convulsion.  The  problem  does  not  seem  difficult.  Resumption  by 
the  Government  will  accomplish  completely  resumption  by  the  banks. 
The  Treasury  has  only,  by  gradual  and  prudent  measures,  to  provide 
for  the  payment  of  such  portion  of  the  outstanding  Treasury  notes 
as  the  public,  not  wishing  to  retain  for  use,  will  return  upon  it  for 
redemption.  The  sum  required  in  coin,  if  the  preparations  be  wisely 
conducted  so  as  to  secure  public  confidence,  will  be  what  is  necessary 
to  replace  the  fractional  currency  and  to  supply  such  individuals  as 
prefer  coin  to  paper  for  their  little  stores  of  money  ;  and  also  what  is 
necessary  to  constitute  a  central  reservoir  of  reserves  against  the 
fluctuations  of  international  balances  and  for  the  banks.  To  amass  a 
sufficient  quantity  by  intercepting  from  the  current  of  precious  metals 
flowing  out  of  this  country,  and  by  acquiring  from  the  stocks  which 
exist  abroad  without  disturbing  the  equilibrium  of  foreign  money- 
markets,  is  a  result  to  be  worked  out  by  a  study  of  all  the  conditions, 
and  the  elements  to  fulfill  those  conditions,  and  by  the  execution  of  the 
plan  adopted,  with  practical  skill  and  judgment.  Redemption,  beyond 
this  provision  of  coin,  can  be  effected  as  other  business  payments  are 
effected ;  or  in  any  method  which  converts  investments  without  in 
terest  into  investments  upon  interest,  on  terms  the  holder  will  ac 
cept  ;  and  by  such  measures  as  would  keep  the  aggregate  amount  of 
the  currency  self-adjusting  during  all  the  process,  without  creating, 
at  any  time,  an  artificial  scarcity,  and  without  exciting  the  public 
imagination  with  alarm  which  impair  confidence,  contract  the  whole 
large  machinery  of  credit  and  disturb  the  natural  operations  of  busi 
ness.  The  best  resource  for  redemption  is  that  furnished  by  public 
economies ;  for  it  creates  no  new  charge  upon  the  people ;  and  a 
stronger  public  credit  is  certain  to  result  from  sounder  finance,  and 
will  reduce  the  annual  cost  of  the  national  debt. 

EXAMPLE    OF    FRANCE. 

These  opinions,  deduced  from  reason,  are  confirmed,  in  a  recent 
example,  by  experience.  France,  in  her  ten  months'  contest  with 


SECOND   ANNUAL  MESSAGE.  289 

Germany,  incurred  a  war  expenditure  of  one  thousand  millions  of 
dollars  in  specie  values;  and,  in  the  twenty-eight  months  following 
the  peace,  paid  an  indemnity  of  one  thousand  million,  of  dollars  in 
specie,  or  its  equivalent,  to  a  foreign  country.  These  great  opera 
tions  were  carried  ofl  without  causing  a  depreciation  of  the  currency 
beyond  two  and  one-half  per  cent,  at  its  extreme  point,  and  without 
disturbing  the  general  business  or  industry  of  the  people. 

OUE    GREAT   NECESSITY. 

What  is  most  needed  now  is,  that  the  public  mind  be  reassured  by 
a  wise,  safe,  and  healing  policy.  The  dread  of  imaginary  evils  as 
cribed  to  the  methods  assumed  to  be  necessary  to  restore  specie  pay 
ments  is  more  mischievous  than  the  reality,  wisely  pursued,  ought  to 
•be.  As  soon  as  the  apprehension  of  an  impending  fall  of  values  is 
removed,  manufacturing  and  mechanical  industries  will  start  anew, 
dealers  will  buy  for  future  consumption,  enterprises  that  commend 
themselves  to  the  sober  judgment  of  investors  will  be  undertaken, 
and  capital,  which  now  accepts  any  low  rate  of  interest,  where  there 
is  no  risk,  but  is  withheld  from  operations  of  average  character,  will 
be  lent  on  reasonable  conditions. 

TEUE    EEMEDIES. 

But  the  remedies  for  the  evils  now  felt  by  the  people  in  their 
business  and  industries  must  extend  beyond  any  measures  merely  re 
lating  to  the  currency.  They  must  be  broader  and  deeper.  They 
must  begin  with  a  prompt  and  large  reduction  in  governmental  ex 
penditures  and  taxation,  which  shall  leave  in  the  hands  that  earn  it  a 
larger  share  of  the  result  of  labor.  They  must  proceed  by  with 
drawing,  as  much  as  possible,  governmental  interferences  that  cripple 
the  industries  of  the  people.  They  must  be  consummated  with  an 
increased  efficiency  and  economy  in  the  conduct  of  business  and  in 
the  processes  of  production,  and  by  a  more  rigorous  frugality  in  pri 
vate  consumption.  A  period  of  self-denial  will  replace  what  has 
been  wasted. 

We  must  build  up  a  new  prosperity  upon  the  old  foundations  of 
American  self-government;  carry  back  our  political  systems  toward 
the  ideals  of  their  authors ;  make  governmental  institutions  simple, 
frugal — meddling  little  with  the  private  concerns  of  individuals — 
aiming  at  fraternity  among  ourselves  and  peace  abroad — and  trusting 
to  the  people  to  work  out  their  own  prosperity  and  happiness.  All 
the  elements  of  national  growth  and  private  felicity  exist  in  our 
13 


290  THE   LIFE   OF  SlMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

country  in  an  abundance  which  Providence  has  vouchsafed  to  no 
other  people.  What  we  need  to  do  is  to  rescue  them  from  govern 
mental  folly  and  rapacity. 

It  is  due  to  the  Republican  majority  to-  say  that  the  mes 
sage  was  well  received  by  the  better  class  of  their  representa 
tives.  Before  the  end  of  the  session  several  earnest  partisans, 
who  had  set  out  to  oppose  the  Governor,  discovered  that  they 
could  better  serve  the  State  and  their  constituents  by  follow 
ing  his  advice.  Some  who  were  his  bitter  enemies  became 
his  friends. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

THE    VETO    OF   THE   PAUPER-LABOR   BILL. 1876. 

THROUGHOUT  his  whole  career,  Governor  Tilden  has 
evinced  a  determination  to  protect,  so  far  as  lay  in  his  power, 
the  working-men  in  their  just  rights.  The  Legislature  of  1876 
enacted  a  law  which  was  particularly  objectionable  to  the 
working-classes  in  New  York  City,  inasmuch  as  it  threatened 
to  bring  them  into  competition  with  all  the  paupers  and  con 
victs  iii  charge  of  the  authorities,  at  a  time  when  general  dis 
aster  had  overtaken  business,  and  work  at  any  price  was  diffi 
cult  to  obtain.  The  Governor  vetoed  the  bill  in  the  following 
message : 

STATE  OF  NEW  YOEK,  EXECUTIVE  CHAMBER,  j 
ALBANY,  March  14,  1876.  ) 

To  the  Assembly  : 

I  herewith  return,  without  my  signature,  Assembly  Bill  No.  12, 
entitled  "  An  act  to  provide  fo;r  the  employment  of  convicts  and  pau- 
pera  under  the  control  of  the  Commissioners  of  Public  Charities  and 
Correction  of  the  City  and  County  of  New  York." 

This  bill  commands  the  Commissioners  of  Charities  and  Correc 
tion  for  the  City  of  New  York  to  furnish  employment  to  "  every  able- 
bodied  convict  or  pauper  confined  in  the  institutions  under  their  care  " 
who  cannot  be  employed  "  to  advantage  or  profit "  in  getting  out 
stone,  cultivating  ground,  or  manufacturing  for  the  use  of  the  said 
departments,  with  such  mechanical  or  ether  labor  as  "  will  yield  the 
greatest  revenue  to  the  departments,"  and  enable  him  to  be  kept  con 
stantly  employed  during  the  term  of  his  imprisonment. 

This  provision  does  not  merely  confer  authority  on  the  commis 
sioners.  It  is  mandatory.  It  contains  no  qualification.  It  allows  no 
discretion.  The  rule  in  respect  to  the  choice  of  industries  in  which 
the  convicts  and  paupers  are  to  be  employed  is  absolute.  The  work 


292  THE  LIFE  OF   SAMUEL   J.  TILDEN. 

to  i>e  carried  on  is  that  which  will  "  yield  the  greatest  revenue." 
The  theoretical  principle  of  political  economy  in  respect  to  private 
business,  which,  to  the  honor  of  humanity,  is  qualified  and  tempered 
in  practice — remorseless  competition  for  the  greatest  profit — is  en- 
"acted  as  the  law  in  the  selection  of  the  industries  to  be  followed. 
Unless  the  legal  effect  of  this  enactment  is  qualified  by  the  last  clause 
of  the  same  section,  any  intentional  deviation,  any  conscious  devia 
tion  from  this  rule  by  the  commissioners,  would  be  itself  a  misde 
meanor.  It  would  expose  the  commissioners  to  a  liability  to  take 
their  places  with  the  convict  portion  of  the  persons  under  their  care. 

It  is  true  that  an  amendment  was  added  to  this  section  by  the 
Senate,  making  it  also  the  duty  of  the  commissioners,  "  so  far  as  in 
tJieir  judgment'1'1  may  be  "practically  and  advantageously"  done,  to 
take  those  industries  and  such  a  diversity  of  them  as  may  "  tend 
least  to  conflict  with  the  interest  of  free  industries  and  trades  in  the 
said  city  and  county." 

Under  the  established  principle  of  construing  the  parts  of  a  stat 
ute  so  that  they  will  all  stand  together,  it  is  probable  that  this  clause 
would  be  ineffectual  to  modify  the  operation  of  the  rule  laid  down  in 
the  former  part  of  the  section.  Even  the  authority  to  prefer  the  in 
dustries  which  "  tend  least  to  conflict "  is  limited  to  cases  in  which  it 
may  be  "advantageously"  done.  Could  it  be  deemed  "advanta 
geous  "  to  choose  industries  which  would  yield  less  profit  than  others  ? 
Nor  does  this  provision  apply  in  favor  of  the  industries  of  Brooklyn 
or  any  other  part  of  the  State  than  the  city  of  New  York.  The 
chief  significance  of  this  clause  is  its  apparent  expression  of  distrust 
by  the  Legislature,  and  of  a  disposition  to  qualify  the  main  provision 
of  the  section. 

The  second  section  of  the  bill  appears  to  be  intended  to  enlarge 
the  powers  of  the  commissioners  to  embark  in  manufacturing  on  ac 
count  of  the  city  corporation,  which  is  itself  a  questionable  experi 
ment  in  view  of  the  results  of  all  business  enterprises  heretofore  un 
dertaken  by  the  public  authorities,  and  is  only  to  be  sanctioned  after 
the  greatest  consideration,  and  with  the  most  careful  guards  against 
the  mischiefs  which  have  been  engendered  in  similar  cases. 

Other  provisions  of  the  bill  are  imperfect,  uncertain,  and  improvi 
dent.  For  instance,  the  clause  prohibiting  the  commissioners  from 
entering  into  any  "  contract  by  which  they  shall  in  any  manner  re 
linquish  the  control,  support,  and  discipline  of  the  said  paupers  and 
convicts  " — though  probably  not  intended  to  have  such  an  effect-:- 


THE  VETO   OF  THE  PAUPER-LABOR   BILL.  293 

may  conflict  with  the  humane  provisions  of  the  act  of  last  year  "  for 
the  better  care  of  pauper  and  destitute  children." 

It  is  desirable  to  make  the  prisons  and  almshouses  of  the  city  of 
New  York  contribute  as  much  to  their  own  support  as  they  can  con 
sistently  with  their  objects  and  with  the  welfare  of  all  classes  of  our 
citizens  ;  and  no  doubt  the  occupation  of  their  inmates  in  work  tends 
to  discipline,  to  health,  and  to  reformation.  The  problem  is,  how  to 
attain  these  salutary  ends  without  injuring  the  interests  or  wounding 
the  just  self-esteem  or  the  honorable  sentiments  of  the  skilled  arti 
sans  and  working-men  who  are  the  strength  of  a  state ;  who  have 
made  American  labor,  on  the  whole,  more  efficient  than  any  otlrer  in 
the  processes  of  production,  and  conferred  on  our  country  the  re 
nown  of  its  achievements.  The  best  solution  of  this  problem  is 
worthy  of  the  most  patient  and  considerate  thought  and  of  continu 
ous  effort.  A  constitutional  amendment  changing  the  system  of  ad 
ministration  of  the  State-prisons  passed  both  Houses  last  year,  and  is 
now  pending.  The  State  Board  of  Charities  are  addressing  their  best 
faculties  to  their  beneficent  work.  A  special  investigation  of  the 
subject  of  pauperism  was  recommended  in  my  annual  message,  and 
is  under  your  consideration.  In  the  present  depressed  state  of  busi 
ness — when  scarcely  any  industry  is  remunerative,  even  with  the  ad 
vantages  of  being  long  established,  and  of  having  private  supervision 
and  management — it  is  not  likely  that  any  new  business  enterprise 
or  speculation  carried  on  by  the  public  officers  would  have  immediate 
results  in  profits  to  the  Treasury. 

Nor  is  it  to  be  overlooked  .that  unexampled  distress  from  the  want 
of  remunerative  employment  now  exists  among  the  mechanics  and 
working-men  of  the  city  of  New  York. 

If  government  may  maintain  an  organized  system  of  relief  for 
paupers,  it  may  at  least  exercise  forbearance,  in  a  period  of  business 
disaster,  toward  those  who  are  struggling  with  difficulties  that  tend 
to  swell  the  class  to  which  such  relief  is  given.  It  can  abstain,  not 
only  from  actual  injury,  but  from  holding  up  to  their  imagination  the 
spectre  of  a  new  governmental  competition ;  from  rash  or  experi 
mental  changes  in  the  system  and  laws  to  which  the  people  are  ac 
customed  ;  from  inconsiderate  or  imperfect  measures,  the  effects  of 
which  cannot  be  foreseen  or  completely  understood.  In  the  mean 
time,  a  real  and  vast  reduction  of  the  burden  of  taxation  can  be  se 
cured  in  other  methods,  for  the  support  of  which  all  classes  and  in 
terest  may  be  expected  to  cooperate.  The  reform  of  the  canal  ex- 


294  THE   LIFE   OF   SAMUEL   J.  TILDEN. 

penditures  of  itself  will  save  more  than  a  million  of  dollars  a  year  to 
the  tax-payers  of  the  metropolis.  That  measure  is  an  example  of  a 
liberal  policy  toward  the  hoatmen  and  transporters  in  a  reduction  of 
tolls  made  coincidently  with  a  far  larger  remission  of  taxes,  and  an 
harmonious  cooperation  of  both  classes  to  secure  the  reform.  The 
policy  which  I  had  the  honor  to  recommend  to  the  Legislature  in  my 
message  at  the  opening  of  the  present  session,  if  adopted  and  faith 
fully  carried  out,  will  secure  to  the  tax-payers  of  the  city  of  New 
York  a  remission  of  taxes  in  1876  as  compared  with  1874  of  four 
millions  of  dollars,  or  about  one-half  of  the  entire  taxes  of  the  city 
for  State  purposes.  In  such  prospects  of  being  themselves  relieved 
and  in  such  necessity  of  general  cooperation,  the  tax-payers  of  a  com 
munity  like  the  city  of  New  York  cannot  afford  to  turn  only  the 
sacrificial  side  of  public  retrenchments  to  the  mechanics  and  work 
ing-men,  who  really  bear  in  indirect  forms  their  full  share  of  the 
taxes,  but  who,  because  they  do  not  pay  directly,  too  often  fail  to 
recognize  the  full  benefits  to  themselves  of  the  policy  which  reduces 
such  burdens. 

(Signed)  SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

It  is  to  be  observed  that  the  Governor  bases  his  veto  on 
substantial  and  sufficient  constitutional  grounds  ;  but  it  can 
hardly  be  doubted  that  his  sympathies  prompted  him  to  scru 
tinize  the  act  more  closely  than  he  would  have  done  if  it  had 
proposed  to  institute  no  objectionable,  policy.  After  the  veto 
of  this  bill  the  working-men  of  New  York  held  a  well-attended 
mass-meeting,  at  which  the  Governor's  course  was  emphati 
cally  approved. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

THE   PEELIMINAKY    CANVASS    FOE    THE    PRESIDENCY. 

IT  is  an  undeniable  fact  that  few  men  who  make  a  busi 
ness  of  politics  are  able  to  interpret  the  will  of  the  people. 
They  believe  oftentimes  that  the  people  have  no  will — that 
what  is  called  "  public  sentiment  "  is  created  to  order  either 
by  the  devices  of  demagogism  or  the  tricks  of  the  newspaper 
press.  "  The  government  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  for 
the  people,"  they  look  upon  us  as  a  popular  delusion,  to  be 
praised  in  public  a^id-  sneered  at  in  private.  This  cynicism, 
which  seems  to  prevail  among  seven-eighths  of  the  office-hold 
ing  class,  was  never  shared  by  Mr.  Tilden.  His  faith  in  the 
people  is  unwavering.  Very  many  times  during  the  past 
thirty  years,  when  those  around  him  were  filled  with  doubts 
and  fears,  he  has  said,  "  If  we  can  only  reach  the  voters  and 
learn  their  opinions  we  cannot  go  astray."  When  he  was  at 
the  head  of  the  New  York  Democratic  State  Committee  his 
plan  of  conducting  a  canvass  was  to  put  himself  in  com 
munication  with  as  many  Democrats  as  possible,  that  he  might 
learn  from  them  the  drift  of  sentiment.  Some  years  he  re 
ceived  as  many  as  ten  thousand  letters  relating  to  politics. 
He  measured  his  own  intelligence  by  the  amount  of  infor 
mation  thus  acquired  from  farmers,  mechanics,  lawyers,  doc 
tors,  working-men,  and  all  classes  of  citizens. 

Mr.  Tilden's  confidence  in  the  people  was  fully  met  by 
their  faith  in  him.  In  his  long  struggle  with  the  Tammany 
conspirators,  in  his  brilliant  fight  against  the  "  Canal  Ring,"  in 
all  the  achievements -of  his  public  life,  he  has  been  sustained 
by  a  power  which  was  irresistible — the  power  of  the  people. 


296  THE  LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.   TILDEN. 

That  the  professional  politicians  did  not  comprehend  this 
power  was  evident  in  the  preliminary  canvass  for  the  presi 
dency.  They  could  not  understand  why  the  voters  from 
Maine  to  California  should  direct  their  attention,  by  a  com 
mon  impulse,  to  the  unpretentious  man  in  Albany  who  had 
found  time,  amid  the  routine  duties  of  his  office  as  Governor 
of  New  York,  to  stop  the  stealing  and  reduce  the  taxes.  It 
was  commonplace  sort  of  work  from  the. standpoint  of  these 
people — "  work  fitter  for  a  detective  than  for  a  gentleman  " 
one  of  them  remarked — but  none  the  less  it  appeared  to  be 
work  that  was  appreciated. 

Mr.  Tilden  was  not  counted  among  the  orators  of  the 
country.  He  had  not  traveled  over  that  road  lined  with 
offices  which  is  supposed  to  lead  to  the  presidency,  but  which 
has  oftener  led  to  humiliating  disappointment  and  defeat. 
He  was  not  within  the  charmed  circle  from  which  it  was 
thought  that  the  candidate  must  be  taken.  The  Republicans 
did  not  want  him  to  be  the  Democratic  nominee.  The  lead 
ers  heard  some  of  their  followers  say  that  if  he  were  nomi 
nated  they  might  vote  for  him  for  the  homely  reason  that  he 
had  reduced  the  taxes.  It  was  too  hard  to  answer  that  sort 
of  an  argument,  and  they  therefore  preferred  a  different  man. 
Many  of  the  Democratic  politicians,  particularly  those  who 
abide  in  Washington  during  the  winter,  were  convinced  that 
he  possessed  no  strength'.  Washington  creates  an  atmos 
phere  of  its  own,  in  which  light  things  appear  heavy  and 
heavy  things  have  no  weight.  It  is  not  until  the  Congress 
man  returns  to  his  constituents  and  breathes  the  purer  air  of 
his  home  that  he  discovers  the  mistakes  he  has  made  in  re 
gard  to  public  opinion. 

As  Governor  Tilden's  strength  began  to  increase  and  the 
probability  of  his  nomination  to  grow  greater,  the  attacks 
upon  him  became  more  bitter  every  day.  He  was  charged 
with  "  stealing  a  railroad  " — a  polite  way  of  referring  to  his 
connection  with  the  Terre  Haute,  Alton  &  St.  Louis  road, 
which  is  made  the  subject  of  a  chapter  elsewhere.  He  was 


THE  PRELIMINARY   CANVASS  FOR  THE  PRESIDENCY.    297 

also  charged  with  being  a  secessionist,  and  to  that  accusation 
some  notice  is  given  in  the  proper  place.  Among  the  miscel 
laneous  slanders  was. one  which  is  still  repeated,  to  the  effect 
that  Mr.  Tilden  conspired  with  Tweed  to  perpetrate  election 
frauds  in  1868.  The  charge  is  based  on  a  forged  letter,  of 
which  the  following  is  a  copy  : 

ROOMS  OF  THE  DEMOCRATIC  STATE  COMMITTEE,  ) 
October  27,  1868.  J 

MY  DEAR  SIR  :  Please  at  once  to  communicate  with  some  reliable 
person,  in  three  or  four  principal  towns  and  in  each  city  of  your 
county,  and  request  him  (expenses  duly  arranged  for  this  end)  to 
telegraph  to  William  M.  Tweed,  Tammany  Hall,  at  the  minute  ot 
closing  the  polls,  not  waiting  for  the  count,  such  person's  estimate  of 
the  vote.  Let  the  telegraph  be  as  follows  :  "  This  town  will  show  a 

Democratic  gain  [or  loss]  over  last  year  of  [number] ;  "  or  this 

one,  if  sufficiently  certain:    "This  town  will  give  a  Republican  [or 

Democratic]  majority  of  ."     There  is,  of  course,  an  important 

object  to  be  attained  by  a  simultaneous  transmission  at  the  hour  of 
closing  the  polls,  but  not  longer  waiting.  Opportunity  can  be  taken 
of  the  usual  half-hour  lull  in  telegraphic  communication  over  lines 
before  actual  results  begin  to  be  declared,  and  before  the  Associated 
Press  absorb  the  telegraph  with  returns  and  interfere  with  individual 
messages,  and  give  orders  to  watch  carefully  the  count.  Very  truly 
yours,  SAMUEL  J.  TILDEST,  Chairman. 

This  document  was  printed  in  the  New  York  Evening 
Post  on  the  3d  of  November,  1868,  and  its  authenticity  ques 
tioned.  The  next  day  appeared  the  following : 

CARD    FROM    MR.    TILDES. 

To  the  Editor  of  the  Evening  Post. 

SIR  :  My  attention  has  been  called  to  an  article  in  your  journal  of 
last  evening  containing  a  circular  to  which  my  name  is  appended.  I 
hasten  to  assure  you  that  you  will  not  lose  your  reputation  as  critics 
by  assuming,  on  internal  evidence,  as  you  have  correctly  done,  that 
no  such  paper  was  ever  written,  signed,  issued,  or  authorized  by  me, 
or  with  any  participation  or  knowledge  on  my  part.  I  have  read  it 
for  the  first  time  in  your  columns ;"  but  I  have  no  reason  to  believe 
that  it  had  any  such  evil  purpose  as  you  suspect.  For  myself,  I  re- 


298  THE   LIFE   OF  SAMUEL   J.   TILDEN. 

fused  in  1844  to  sign  the  famous  "secret  circular"  relating  to  Texas, 
which  is  celebrated  in  the  history  of  the  Evening  Post,  though  I 
might  have  been  tempted  by  the  illustrious  association  in  which  I 
should  have  found  myself.  Neither  before  that,  nor  since,  have  I 
ever  been  concerned  in  any  circular  marked  "  secret,"  "confidential," 
or  "  private  ; "  nor  shall  I  be,  unless  I  should  adopt  that  device  for 
the  purpose  of  getting  some  valuable  truth,  disguised  in  such  a  form, 
secured  a  wide  publicity  in  the  Evening  Post  and  all  the  Republican 
newspapers.  Very  truly  yours, 

S.  J.  TILDEN. 
NEW  YORK,  November  4,  1868. 

If  the  foregoing  card  does  not  form  a  sufficient  answer  to 
the  charge,  perhaps  the  following  lucid  explanation  which  Mr. 
Tilden  offered  to  the  New  York  Times  in  1873  will  serve  the 
required  purpose  : 

THE   ELECTION   OF   1S68. 
{Times  Editorial,  February  10,  1873.] 

And  while  Mr.  Tilden  is  about  it,  will  he  explain  to  the  public 
how  he,  in  company  with  William  M.  Tweed,  swindled  the  people 
and  stuffed  the  ballot-boxes  in  1808,  so  that  it  was  made  to  appear 
that  Seymour  and  Hoffman  carried  this  State  over  Grant  and  Gris- 
wold  ?  No  one  knows  better  than  Samuel  J.  Tilden  what  a  farce 
and  a  fraud  that  election  was,  and  Mr.  Tilden  knows  just  as  well 
that  it  was  in  his  power  to  have  given  the  people  a  fair  election.  .  .  . 

Mr.  Tilden  was  Tweed's  partner  in  the  shameless  trickery  of 
1868. 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  reply  that  there  is  not  a  particle  of 
truth  in  any  of  these  statements.  They  are  total  fictions. 

Nobody  ever  pretended,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  that  Mr.  Tilden  had 
any  knowledge  of,  agency  in,  or  gave  any  aid  or  countenance  to  any 
frauds,  in  that  or  any  other  election.  Nobody  could  so  pretend  with 
out  utter  falsehood. 

In  the  winter  of  1868-'69  a  congressional  committee  made  an 
elaborate  and  protracted  investigation  into  the  alleged  frauds  at  the 
then  recent  election.  The  evidence,  incidentally  developed — for  no 
body  professed  to  charge,  or  even  suspect,  any  complicity  on  the 
part  of  Mr.  Tilden — showed  facts  and  relations  which  proved  the 
contrary. 

The  argument,  or  inference,  that  he  must  have  acquired  knowl 
edge  of  such  frauds  as  chairman  of  the  State  Committee,  or  had 


THE  PRELIMINARY   CANVASS  FOR  THE  PRESIDENCY.    290 

power  to  prevent  them,  is  without  any  foundation.  What  were  the 
relations  between  Mr.  Tilden  and  the  men  accused  of  those  frauds 
and  receiving  the  benefit  of  them,  and  where  the  power  to  prevent 
such  frauds  really  resided,  will  now  be  shown. 

As  stated  on  page  13  of  the  letter,  in  the  passage  respecting  the 
"  formative  period  "  of  the  "  Ring,"  the  antagonism  between  those 
who  became  its  leading  members  and  Mr.  Tilden  was  "sharply  de 
fined  and  public."  This  antagonism  had  begun  as  early  as  1863. 

In  the  State  Convention  of  September,  1868,  there  was  an  open 
contest.  Mr.  Allen  0.  Beach  was  nominated — chiefly  by  the  efforts 
of  Mr.  Tilden — for  Lieutenant- Governor  by  a  large  majority.  The 
result  was  described  in  the  Times  as  a  triumph  over  Tammany.  In 
August,  an  elaborate  attack  on  Mr.  Tilden  by  one  of  the  journals 
of  tbe  "  Ring  "  was  copied  into  the  Leader,  edited  by  Mayor  Hall. 

Mr.  Tilden  was  about  the  last  man  in  the  State  to  whom  these 
persons  would  have  intrusted  any  of  their  secrets  or  plans.  Still 
less  would  they  expose  to  him  any  illegal  or  fraudulent  schemes  of 
theirs. 

The  State  Committee  had  no  function  in  respect  to  the  conduct 
of  the  election  in  this  city.  Mr.  Tilden  did  not  belong  to  the  Gen 
eral  Committee  of  the  city,  and,  during  the  years  of  the  ascendency 
of  the  "  Ring  "  in  the  city  organizations,  had  no  connection  with 
those  organizations — no  voice  in  local  nominations — and  never  asked 
or  accepted  any  appointment  for  a  friend.  At  that  time  he  had 
about  as  much  relation  to  the  ruling  powers  of  Tammany  as  Mayor 
Havemeyer  may  be  supposed  to  have  to  the  clique  now  controlling 
the  local  Republican  organization,  whom  he  has  lately  described 
with  so  much  picturesque  effect. 

The  State  Committee  was  an  object  of  jealousy  and  fear  to  these 
men.  It  was  at  all  times  perfectly  independent  of  them,  and  re 
ceived  very  little  aid  in  contributions  toward  its  moderate  and  neces 
sary  expenses — and  often  none — from  the  whole  office-holding  class 
of  the  city. 

In  the  election  of  1868  the  "  Ring  "  were  playing  their  own  per 
sonal  game.  Even  in  1864  it  had  been  suspected  that  the  leading 
persons  wTho  afterward  formed  the  "  Ring  "  were  untrue  to  Horatio 
Seymour,  the  Democratic  candidate  for  Governor,  as  well  as  to  Gen 
eral  McClellan.  They  never  forgave  Governor  Seymour  for  vetoing 
the  Broadway  Railroad  Bill,  in  1863,  in  which  they,  with  their  Re 
publican  allies,  had  become  largely  interested. 


300  THE  LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.   TILDEN. 

In  1868  it  was  believed  before  the  election  that  they  had  plotted 
a  scheme  to  keep  Horatio  Seymour,  the  Democratic  candidate  for 
President,  behind  his  ticket.  They  did,  in  fact,  withhold  from  him 
all  the  votes  they  could  without  detection,  and  bargained  with  the 
corrupt  Republicans  with  whom  they  were  in  partnership,  at  his  ex 
pense.  Their  constant  study  was  to  pervert  to  their  own  selfish 
gain  the  efforts  and  sacrifices  of  4,000,000  Democratic  voters  in 
the  country,  and  450,000  in  this  State.  They  never  hesitated  to  sac 
rifice  or  to  sell  the  general  objects  of  the  Democratic  party,  its  prin 
ciples  or  its  ^measures.  They  never  contributed  to  its  advancement, 
except  so  far  as  was  necessarily  incidental  to  their  own  purposes  of 
holding  power  in  the  municipal  government. 

Their  object  Mr.  Tilden  never  had  any  sympathy  with,  or  any 
disposition  to  promote.  At  the  time  of  the  election  in  1868,  the 
presidential  contest  had  already  been  lost  in  the  October  elections, 
and  he  had  only  to  fulfill  his  duty  toward  the  Democracy  of  the 
State  and  Union.  It  appeared,  in  the  congressional  investigations, 
that  not  only  did  he  have  no  connection  with  the  naturalizations, 
but  he  did  not  even  know  who  were  the  naturalization  committee  of 
either  party,  or  where  they  had  their  offices.  The  first-fruit  of  the 
success  of  the  "  King  "  in  gaining  increased  influence  at  Albany,  by 
that  election,  was  a  scheme  immediately  concocted  to  depose  Mr. 
Tilden  from  the  State  Committee. 

The  power  of  the  "  King "  in  this  city  had  been  derived  from 
Republican  legislation,  and  the  corrupt  means  by  which  they  had 
obtained  that  legislation  were  a  division  of  the  city  offices,  contracts, 
jobs  and  bribery.  In  1868j  and  for  three  years  previous,  the  Mayor, 
Comptroller  and  Street  Commissioner,  were  removable  by  the  Gov 
ernor  ;  half  the  supervisors  were  Republicans,  and  nearly  all  the 
commissions,  embracing  vast  patronage,  were  Republican. 

The  inspectors  of  election  —  the  canvassers  who  counted  the 
votes — the  clerks  of  the  polls — and  the  registers — were  all  appointed 
by  the  Board  of  Police  Commissioners.  Half  of  the  members  of  this 
board  and  all  its  chief  officers  were  Republicans.  Thomas  C.  Acton 
was  its  president ;  Seth  C.  Hawley  its  chief  clerk ;  S.  C.  Hawley,  Jr., 
secretary  ;  and  John  A.  Kennedy,  Superintendent  of  Police. 

It  would  have  been  impossible  to  credit  beforehand  that,  under 
these  circumstances,  at  a  hotly-contested  presidential  election,  when 
the  Republican  party  was  watchful,  and  straining  itself  to  the  ut 
most — systematic  frauds  in  voting  and  canvassing  could  be  perpe- 


THE  PRELIMINARY  CANVASS  FOR  THE  PRESIDENCY.  301 

trated  without  the  complicity  of  the  leading  representatives  of  the 
Republican  party  in  the  city ;  nor  is  it  easy  now  to  see  how  that  was 
possible. 

The  idea  of  imputing  to  Mr.  Tilden  responsibility  for  election 
frauds,  of  which  he  had  no  knowledge  beforehand,  with  which  he 
was  in  no  manner  connected — and  which  he  in  no  wise  aided  or 
abetted — on  the  assumption  that  "it  was  in  his  power  to  have  given 
the  people  a  fair  election,''  when  he  had  no  voice  in  shaping  the 
election  laws  or  appointing  the  election  officers — which  laws  had 
been  made  by  the  Republicans,  and  which  officers  were  practically 
appointed  by  the  Republicans — is  too  absurd  to  need  discussion. 

The  Assembly  chosen  at  that  election  was,  by  a  large  majority, 
Republican.  The  Senate  was  Republican.  It  was  in  their  power  to 
alter  the  election  laws,  and  the  mode  of  appointing  officers  of  the 
election.  They  did  not.  At  the  next  session,  when  there  was  a 
Democratic  majority,  Mr.  Tilden  endeavored  to  do  so ;  but  his  elec 
tion  law  was  beaten,  and  the  election  law  under  which  Mayor  Hall 
got  the  practical  control  of  all  these  officers  passed—every  Republi 
can  Senator  voting  for  it,  and  the  Times  filling  the  air  with  its  lauda 
tions.  The  one  element  of  good  which  that  law  contained — "  watch 
ers  "  of  the  canvass,  to  be  appointed  by  the  candidates,  was  taken 
from  Mr.  Tilden's  bill. 

The  truth  is,  that  frauds  at  elections  are  usually  the  work  of  men 
having  a  special  and  often  a  pecuniary  interest  in  the  local  results. 
Fanatics  who  commit  crimes  to  advance  their  abstract  ideas  of  na 
tional  or  State  politics  are  rare  exceptions  to  the  ordinary  course  of 
human  nature.  If  a  "  Ring  "  had  not  already  been  formed — embrac 
ing  the  wire-workers  of  both  party  machines — such  frauds  as  are 
alleged  of  the  election  of  1868  could  not  have  been  possible. 

It  is  proper  to  add  that  at  a  time  when  Horace  Greeley 
labored  under  the  impression  that  Mr.  Tilden  might,  by  the 
simple  strength  of  his  name,  prevent  all  frauds  at  elections, 
he  addressed  to  him  a  letter  on  the  subject,  of  which  the  fol 
lowing  is  J;he  opening  paragraph  : 

LETTEE    TO    A    POLITICIAN. 

To  SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN,   Chairman  Democratic  State  Committee. 

SIE  :  You  and  I  are  growing  old.  We  came  here  young  men 
from  the  country,  and  have  lived  and  struggled  side  by  side  for  nearly 


302  THE   LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.   TILDEN. 

forty  years.  We  have  participated  ardently  in  many  political  strug 
gles,  always  on  different  sides.  You  were  the  pupil  and  protege  of 
Van  Buren  and  Silas  "Wright ;  I  a  disciple  and  follower  of  Henry 
Clay.  But  this  I  will  say  for  you,  that  I  am  confident  you  have  never 
sought  to  enrich  yourself  by  politics,  or  at  the  expense  of  the  public — 
that  whatever  of  wealth  you  may  have  acquired  or  enjoyed  was  earned 
in  your  profession  as  a  lawyer — and  that  your  instincts  and  your 
influences,  partisanship  apart,  have  generally  been  felt  on  the  side  of 
economy  in  public  expenditure  and  uprightness  in  the  conduct  of 
public  affairs.  Of  my  course  in  these  respects  you  are  welcome  to 
say  whatever  you  think  true. 

The  effect  of  the  various  charges  of  which  notice  has  been 
taken  herein  "was,  to  concentrate  public  attention  on  Mr. 
Tilden.  The  opposition  of  the  few  brought  out  the  positive 
and  even  aggressive  friendship  of  the  many.  Governor  Hen- 
dricks,  Senator  Bayard,  General  Hancock,  Governor  Parker, 
and  other  distinguished  Democrats,  were  thrown  in  the  back 
ground,  not  so  much  by  the  positive  popularity  of  Governor 
Tilden  as  by  the  folly  of  his  indiscreet  enemies  in  continually 
denouncing  him.  Back  of  the  candidate  was  his  record— the 
record  of  reform — and  behind  that  was  the  feeling,  wide-spread 
and  almost  universal,  that  in  that  sign  we  conquer. 

Under  such  circumstances  the  Democratic  National  Con 
vention  assembled  at  St.  Louis  on  the  27th  of  June,  1876. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

THE    ST.    LOUIS   CONVENTION. 

THE  convention  came  together  in  the  great  hall  of  the 
Board  of  Trade  in  St.  Louis  at  noon,  on  the  27th  of  June. 
The  building  is  especially  adapted  to  the  purposes  of  such  an 
assemblage.  Its  double  tiers  of  windows,  seventy  in  all, 
make  the  interior  light  and  cheerful.  The  hall  itself  is  two 
hundred  and  twenty-two  feet  long  and  ninety-two  and  a  half 
feet  wide.  The  frescoed  ceiling  stretches  across  sixty  feet 
from  the  floor,  while  more  than  half-way  up  runs  a  light,  nar 
row  gallery  encircling  the  hall  between  the  two  stories  of 
windows.  There  is  nothing  to  break  the  simple  harmony  of  the 
architecture,  which  is  impressive  from  its  very  plainness.  The 
hall  will  hold  fully  five  thousand  people.  During  the  conven 
tion  the  interior  was  decorated  in  sympathy  with  the  spirit 
of  the  occasion.  The  escutcheons  of  the  States  were  hung 
from  the  gallery,  each  bound  with  a  sheaf  of  wheat,  and  joined 
to  its  neighbor  by  a  silken  tie  in  the  national  hues.  On  the 
long  platform  for  distinguished  guests,  erected  opposite  the 
main  entrance,  were  thickets  of  creeping  vines  and  flowers, 
while  in  the  centre,  also  decorated  with  plants  and  shrubs 
and  flowers,  was  the  dark,  handsome  rostrum  made  of  black- 
walnut.  In  front  of  this  the  delegates  to  the  convention  sat 
in  a  great  semicircle,  covering  almost  the  whole  breadth  of 
the  hallj  but  leaving  at  the  sides  spaces  where  sat  an  intelli 
gent  and  sympathetic  audience,  whose  eager  enthusiasm  had 
often  to  be  restrained  that  the  business  of  the  convention 


304  THE  LIFE   OF   SAMUEL  J.   TILDEN. 

might  proceed.  The  platform,  therefore,  looked  across  the 
hall  and  not  down  its  length,  so  that  the  voices  of  the  speak 
ers  could  readily  be  heard  by  every  delegate. 

Stress  of  public  business  at  Washington,  where  so  many 
prominent  and  able  Democrats  were  striving  to  reduce  expen 
diture  of  the  people's  money  and  oppressive  taxation,  kept 
many  away  from  the  convention  who  would  gladly  have  been 
present.  They  were  compelled  to  remain  at  their  posts  to 
watch  and  to  foil  the  efforts  of  a  Republican  Senate  in  the 
direction  of  extravagant  appropriations  sought  for  personal 
emolument  and  for  use  in  the  presidential  campaign.  Never 
theless,  many  able  and  distinguished  Democrats  were  present, 
most  of  them  as  delegates.  From  Alabama  there  were  General 
Pope  Walker,  who  was  Secretary  of  War  under  the  Confed 
eracy,  and  who  is  now  as  faithful  to  the  Union  as  he  once  was 
to  the  South ;  and  Colonel  Shaster,  who  was  in  Congress 
thirty  years  ago,  a  Democrat  then  and  a  Democrat  now.  From 
California  there  was  "  Duke  "  Gwin,  once  a  Senator  of  the 
United  States ;  from  Connecticut,  Senator  William  H.  Bar- 
num,  the  Hon.  R.  D.  Hubbard,  General  W.  B.  Franklin,  and 
C.  M.  Ingersoll ;  from  Delaware,  ex-Congressman  William  G. 
Whitele}r,  and  ex-Governor  Saulsbury  ;  from  Florida,  C.  W. 
Yulee  ;  from  Georgia,  Governor  James  M.  Smith,  and  Congress 
man  Pierre  M.  B.  Young ;  from  Illinois,  General  John  A. 
McClernand,  ex-Governor  Gustav  A.  Koerner,  Perry  H.  Smith, 
and  Herman  Lieb ;  from  Indiana,  Senator  McDonald,  Daniel 
W.  Voorhees,  B.  W.  Hanna,  and  D.  S.  Williams ;  from  Ken 
tucky,  Henry  Watterson,  editor  of  the  Louisville  Courier- Jour 
nal,  W.  C.  P.  Breckinridge,  ex-United  States  Senator  W.  B. 
Machin,  John  M.  Rice ;  from  Louisiana,  R.  A.  Marr ;  from 
Maryland,  ex-Congressman  Stevenson  Archer ;  from  Massa 
chusetts,  Congressman  Josiah  G.  Abbott,  George  W.  Gill, 
Frank  W.  Bird,  Sumner's  life-long  friend,  and  Richard.  Froth- 
ingham ;  from  Missouri,  Governor  Charles  H.  Hardin  and  ex- 
Governor  Silas  Woodson ;  from  Nebraska,  George  L.  Miller ; 
from  New  Jersey,  ex -United  States  Senator  J.  P.  Stockton, 


THE   ST.   LOUIS  CONVENTION.  305 

Congressman  Miles  Ross,  and  State  Senator  Leon  Abbett. 
The  New  York  delegation  contained  a  remarkable  array  of 
names :  Senator  Kernan,  Lieutenant-Governor  Dorsheimer, 
Congressman  Abram  S.  Hewitt,  Hon.  Henry  C.  Murphy,  Gen 
eral  Roger  A.  Pryor,  John  Kelly,  John  C.  Jacobs,  Samuel  S. 
Cox,  August  Belmont,  Oswald  Ottendorfer,  Manton  Marble, 
Edward  Cooper,  Mayor  Wickham,  Augustus  Schell,  Congress 
man  George  M.  Beebe,  and  ex-Lieutenant-Governor  Beach. 
North  Carolina  sent  ex-Senator  T.  C.  Clingman ;  Ohio,  Gen 
erals  Thomas  Ewing,  G.  W.  Morgan,  and  J.  B.  Steadman  ; 
Pennsylvania,  Senator  Wallace,  Heister  Clymer,  and  Malcolm 
Hay ;  Texas,  ex-Congressman  Herndon ;  Virginia,  Fitzhugh 
Lee  and  ex-Governor  Gilbert  C.  Walker ;  West  Virginia,  J. 
J.  Davis ;  and  Wisconsin,  ex-Senator  Doolittle,  Alexander 
Mitchell,  and  G.  B.  Smith. 

The  convention  was  called  to  order  by  Augustus  Schell, 
chairman  of  the  National  Democratic  Committee,  and  so  long 
and  honorably  identified  with  the  history  of  national  Democ 
racy.  The  first  words  of  his  speech  showed  how  thoroughly 
united  the  party  was  on  the  issue  which  Governor  Tilden  chiefly 
represented,  though  as  in  the  case  of  this  very  speaker  Govern 
or  Tilden  might  not  be  the  first  choice  as  a  candidate.  Mr. 
Schell  struck  the  key-note  *of  the  convention  and  the  campaign 
when  he  declared  the  need  of  the  times  to  be  administrative 
reform.  Almost  every  speaker  who  followed  him  enlarged 
upon  the  theme  which  he  had  suggested,  and  the  platform  set 
it  before  the  people  as  the  one  living  and  enduring  issue  which 
no  false  issue  could  overthrow,  and  from  which  demagogues 
could  not  divert  the  attention  of  the  people.  Mr.  Schell 
said  that  the  need  of  the  times  was  administrative  reform, 
and  that  the  Administration  must  not  be  left  in  the  hands  of 
those  who  have  stained  it.  The  next  issue  of  importance  was . 
the  currency  issue.  He  denied  that  the  Democracy  was  the 
soft-money  party,  and  pointed  to  the  legislation  and  decisions 
of  the  past  to  prove  that  the  Republican  party  was  the  paper- 
money  party,  since  it  originated  and  has  perpetuated  it.  He 


306  THE   LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.   TILDEN. 

charged  the  present  business  depression  on  the  acts  of  the 
Republican  party,  and  said  : 

How  is  it  to  be  remedied?  The  Democratic  party,  with  its  inter 
ests,  will  see  that  the  remedy  is  applied  of  frugal  and  economical 
government  and  a  diminution  of  taxation.  It  cannot  be  brought 
about  by  forced  contraction.  It  should  not  be  by  additional  inflation ; 
but  we  take  the  country  as  it  stands.  We  are  called  upon  to  apply 
the  remedy,  and  one  remedy  which  commends  itself  to  every  honest 
man  and  to  every  reasonable  Democrat  is  to  demand  the  repeal  of 
the  resumption  act.  Kepeal  that  act,  put  the  Government  in  the 
power  of  the  Democratic  party,  and  let  them  pursue  the  course  which 
they  will  pursue,  of  an  economical  administration  of  that  Govern 
ment,  and  I  assure  you  that  the  time  is  not  far  distant  when  specie 
payments  will  be  resumed,  the  prosperity  of  the  country  be  restored, 
and  the  American  people  be  happy  once  more.. 

At  the  conclusion  of  his  remarks,  Mr.  Schell  announced 
the  temporary  chairman  of  the  convention,  Mr.  Henry  Wat- 
terson,  editor  of  the  Louisville  Courier- Journal.  The  an 
nouncement  was  received  with  an  enthusiasm  which  showed 
that  Mr.  Watterson's  liberal  tendencies  had  not  cost  him  the 
political  friendship  of  his  fellow-Democrats.  Though  coming 
from  a  border  State  with  strong  Southern  sympathies,  whose 
Democracy,  intrenched  in  an  overwhelming  and  invariable 
majority,  was  always  conservative  and  sometimes  backward, 
Mr.  Watterson's  work  had  always  been  for  progress  and  lib 
eralism.  For  this  reason  he  warmly  urged  the  indorsement 
of  the  nomination  of  Horace  Greeley  in  1872,  believing  that  it 
would  best  express  the  national  demand  for  amnesty  to  the 
South,  and  for  this  reason  he  was  warmly  in  favor  of  the 
nomination  of  the  great  reform  Governor  of  New  York,  seeing 
that  the  times  demanded  of  the  party  a  full  devotion  to  the 
work  of  reform.  His  selection  was  no  less  a  triumph  of  the 
best  elements  in  the  party  than  a  personal  compliment  to  a 
brilliant  soldier  in  the  Democratic  ranks. 

Mr.  Watterson  was  escorted  to  the  chair  by  Senator  Bar- 
num,  of  Connecticut,  and  Senator  Ransom,  of  North  Carolina, 
and  spoke  as  follows  : 


THE   ST.   LOUIS  CONVENTION.  307 

GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  CONVENTION  :  We  are  called  together  to  de 
termine  by  our  wisdom  whether  honest  government,  administered  by 
honest  men,  shall  be  restored  to  the  American  people,  or  to  decide 
by  our  folly  that  it  is  the  destiny  of  this  country  to  pursue -an  endless, 
ever-revolving  circle  of  partisan  passion  and  corruption,  until,  with 
the  loss  of  our  material  well-being,  we  lose  the  poor  man's  last  hope 
— civil  liberty  itself.  Every  citizen  of  the  republic,  be  he  of  one 
party  or  the  other,  feels,  and  has  felt  for  many  a  day,  the  depressing 
influence  of  what  are  called  hard  times.  We  look  about  us  and  we 
see  neglected  fields  and  vacant  houses.  The  factories  are  closed,  and 
the  furnace-door  is  shut.  There  are  myriads  of  idle  hands.  The 
happy  activity  of  prosperous  life  is  nowhere  to  be  found.  Loyalists 
fatten  while  honest  men  starve.  Empty  the  mart,  and  shipless  the 
bay.  What  is  it?  what  has  wrought  so  great  a  change  in  a  land  that 
under  the  rule  of  an  intelligent,  progressive,  constitutional  party  ad 
vanced,  within  half  a  century,  from  the  condition  of  a  huddle  of 
petty  and  squalid  provincial  sovereignties  to  a  foremost  place  among 
the  nations  of  the  earth  ?  The  reason  of  men  must  answer — partisan 
misrule  and  sectional  misdirection. 

The  ^Republicans,  my  friends,  are  not  alone  responsible.  With 
them  rest  the  disgraces,  with  us  the  follies.  These  twin  agents  of 
national  mischance,  working  under  the  miserable  rule  of  contraries, 
have  kept  the  people  of  the  North  and  South  aside,  and  have  supplied 
sustenance  to  corruption.  They  have  disturbed  values,  they  have 
unsettled  prices,  they  have  made  our  whole  financial  system  a  cheat 
and  snare.  They  have  driven-  the  best  elements  of  political  society 
into  exile,  and  have  organized  charlatanism  into  a  sort  of  public 
polity,  enabling  the  rogue  to  get  a  cheap  advantage  of  his  dupe,  and 
sacrificing  every  popular  interest  to  the  lust  of  that  oligarchy  which 
has  become  so  incrusted  with  power  as  to  believe  itself  entitled  to 
rule  by  the  sheer  force  of  its  own  wrong-doing.  So  much  let  us  set 
down  to  the  convenient  pretext  of  war ;  so  much  to  the  long  account 
of  damages  between  the  North  and  South.  It  is  for  you  to  say 
whether  the  same  conflict,  with  consequences  multiplied  and  magni 
fied,  shall  by  any  act  of  yours  be  inaugurated  between  the  East  and 
West. 

I  shall  not  undertake  on  an  occasion  of  this  kind,  and  in  a  pres 
ence  so  imposing,  to  enforce  the  familiar  lesson  of  mutual  forbear 
ance.  Nobody  doubts  our  capacity  to  make  battle  among  ourselves. 
Entreating  you  to  direct  your  energies  to  the  common  enemy,  I  ask 


308  THE  LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.   TILDEN. 

indulgence  only  on  my  own  behalf.  You  have  called  me-  to  a  place 
not  merely  of  distinction,  but  of  difficulty ;  to  a  place  which  requires 
the  best  training  of  a  better  man  than  I  am  ;  and,  in  taking  it,  I  trust 
to  your  confidence,  good-nature,  and  hearts  incapable  of  an  unmanly 
or  unfair  act.  The  work  before  us  should  relate  to  ideas  rather  than 
to  individuals ;  it  is  the  issue,  not  the  man,  that  should  engage  us. 
We  have  come  here  to  make  the  people's,  not  onr  fight,  for  a  free  no 
less  than  for  an  honest  Government ;  fof  the  reform  of  the  public 
service  and  the  regeneration  of  public  morals;  for  administrative 
relief  from  administrative  nihilism,  embraced  in  the  simple  creed  of 
home-rule,  reduced  taxes,  and  a  living  chance  for  the  South  as  well 
as  for  the  North,  for  both  the  East  and  the  West.  If  anything  comes 
of  our  proceedings,  it  must  spring  from  the  spirit  of  association  and 
fellowship  when  warmed.  The  followers  of  Andrew  Jackson  and 
Silas  Wright,  of  Henry  Clay  and  Daniel  Webster,  and  their  political 
descendants,  meet  together  on  common  ground  at  last  to  wrest  the 
government  of  their  affairs  from  the  clutch  of  rings  and  robbers, 
Federal,  State,  and  municipal,  and  mean  to  extirpate  these  wherever 
they  are  found,  and  whether  they  are  Republican  or  Democratic. 

Frederick  O.  Prince,  of  Massachusetts,  was  made  tempo 
rary  secretary,  and  T.  O.  Walker,  of  Iowa,  and  H.  K.  Doniphan, 
of  Ohio,  assistants,  and  Daniel  Able,  of  Missouri,  sergeant-at- 
arms.  The  rules  of  the  last  National  Convention  were 
adopted,  including  the  two-thirds  rule  against  which  Gov 
ernor  Tilden's  friends  made  no  demonstration,  as  it  was  sup 
posed  they  might.  They  were  too  strong  to  need  resort  to 
such  measures. 

The  following  was  the  Committee  on  Platform  : 


Alabama — Leroy  P.  Walker. 
Arkansas — L.  V.  Maguire. 
California — John  S.  Hager. 
Colorado — F.  J.  Marshall. 
Connecticut — R.  D.  Hubbard. 
Delaware — George  Gray. 
Florida — John  Westcott. 
Georgia— E.  P.  Ho  well. 
Illinois — J.  A.  McClernand. 
Indiana — D.  W.  Voorhees. 


Iowa— H.  II.  Trimble. 
Kansas — Thomas  L.  Davis. 
Kentucky — Alvin  Duval. 
Louisiana — R.  H.  Marr. 
Maine — D.  R.  Hastings. 
Maryland — George  Freaner. 
Massachusetts — E.  Avery. 
Michigan — W.  L.  Bancroft. 
Minnesota — Daniel  Buck. 
Mississippi — A.  M.  Clayton. 


THE   ST.   LOxJIS  CONVEiNTION.  309 


Missouri-r-0.  H.  Hardin. 
Nebraska— George  L.  Miller. 
Nevada— A.  0.  Ellis. 
New  Hampshire— E.  0.  Barley. 
New  Jersey — Joseph  W.  Yates.  t 
New  York — W.  Dorsheimer. 
North  Carolina — T.  L.  Olingman. 
Ohio — Thomas  Ewing. 
Oregon — M.  V.  Brown. 


Pennsylvania — Malcolm  Hay. 

Ehode  Island— W.  B.  Beach. 

South  Carolina— Sam.  McGowan. 

Tennessee — John  C.  Brown. 

Texas — Ashbel  Smith. 

Vermont — James  H.  Williams. 

Virginia — John  A.  Meredith. 

West  Virginia — John  J.  Davis. 

Wisconsin — Alexander  Mitchell. 
The  permanent  chairman  of  the  convention,  named  at  the 
afternoon  session  of  that  day,  was  General  John  A.  McClernand, 
of  Illinois,  who  was  escorted  to  the  chair  by  a  committee  con 
sisting  of  Manton  Marble,  of  New  York,  Thomas  S.  Bocock, 
of  Virginia,  and  Daniel  W.  Voorhees,  of  Indiana — the  two 
former  being  appointed  in  place  of  General  Fitzhugh  Lee,  of 
Virginia,  and  Lieutenant-Governor  William  Dorsheimer,  of 
New  York,  who  were  absent.  General  McClernand  spoke 
as  follows  : 

GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  NATIONAL  DEMOCRATIC  CONVENTION  :  I  thank 
you  for  the  distinguished  honor  which  you  have  done  me  in  directing 
me  to  preside  over  your  deliberations.  You  are  the  delegates  of  the 
Democracy  of  the  whole  Union ;  of  thirty-seven  States,  once  unnat 
urally  estranged,  but  now  forever  united  in  one  indivisible  republic. 
Brethren  of  one  political  family,  with  the  same  heritage  of  liberty  un 
der  equal  law,  and  heirs  of  one  destiny,  shall  we  preserve  and  trans 
mit  that  great  heritage?  Shall  we  make  that  destiny  the  most 
glorious  in  the  history  of  free  peoples  ?  If  your  deliberations,  fellow- 
Democrats,  to-day  shall  be  wise ;  if  your  perception  of  the  necessities 
of  our  time,  our  country,  our  politics,  shall  be  just  and  sagacious;  if 
your  sympathy  shall  be  quick  with  the  hearts  of  a  great  people,  then, 
beyond  all  peradventure,  we  shall  transmit  to  our  children  and  our 
children's  children  unimpaired  this  priceless  heritage.  Yours  will 
be  a  better  renown  than  the  renown  most  prized  by  Romans,  condi' 
tores  imperiorium,  for  greater  than  the  founders  of  empires  are  the 
preservers  of  republics. 

There  are  no  enemies  of  the  Union  to-day  on  this  continent  except 
that  administrative  centralism  which  is  congesting  at  the  Capitol  the 
vital  currents  which  ought  to  flow  out  through  every  part,  giving  life 
to  the  farthest  extremities  of  the  body  politic,  and  energy  to  all  its 


310  THE  LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

members ;  except  that  corruption  which  is  the  curse  that  centralism 
has  never  failed  in  age  or  land  to  entail  upon  any  government.  Cen 
tralism  and  corruption  have  imposed  upon  ten  States  the  rapacious 
tyrannies  of  carpet-bag  rule,  and- since  the  peace  have  added  $200,- 
000,000  to  their  debts.  They  have  infected  the  governments  of  our 
Northern  States  and  Northern  cities  with  the  same  disease  of  extrav 
agance  and  fraud.  They  have  debauched  the  Federal  Government 
itself,  and  made  the  names  of  scores  of  its  high  officers  and  public 
men  our  public  scandal,  our  open  shame. 

The  record  is  one  of  horrible  incapacity,  venality,  waste,  and 
fraud;  and  the  party  which  has  been  powerless  to  head  down  and 
trample  under  foot  its  corruptionists,  with  stupendous  effrontery 
pledges  itself  to  a  reform  of  which  it  has  become  incapable.  That 
party  pledged  itself  to  restore  specie  payments,  every  year  taking 
us  further  from,  specie  payments ;  it  pledged  itself  to  civil  service 
reform,  and  then  dropped  and  mocked  its  reformers ;  it  pledged  itself 
to  protect  American  labor,  and  with  its  monstrous  custom-house  tax 
ation  on  over  three  thousand  articles  it  has  impoverished  American 
labor.  A  few  score  monopolists,  a  few  thousand  corruptionists  have 
been  enriched,  but  capital  in  the  hands  of  those  that  earned  it  by  in 
dustry  and  saved  it  by  frugality  is  everywhere  distrustful  and  rusts 
unused,  while  honest  labor  goes  about  the  streets  begging  bread. 

Is  this,  then,  the  final  outcome  of  a  century  of  republican  self- 
government?  God  forbid  it,  gracious  God!  But  we  have  wandered 
far  from  right  paths ;  we  must  return  to  the  constitutional  principles, 
the  frugal  expenditures,  and  the  administrative  purity  of  the  founders 
of  the  republic.  This  is  the  first,  the  most  imperious  necessity  of  our 
day  and  nation ;  this  is  the  appeal  we  have  to  make  to  our  fellow- 
citizens  of  every  former  political  affiliation;  this  is  the  one  supreme, 
commanding  issue  to  which  all  others  are  inferior,  all  others  trivial : 
Keform !  Eeform  !  Eeform  !  If  you  shall  recognize  this  imperious 
necessity;  if  you  shall  guarantee  in  your  platform  the  successful 
achievement  of  this  arduous  work  of  national  regeneration ;  if  you 
shall  select  standard-bearers  true  to  your  own  high  purpose  and 
faithful  to  your  pledge,  victory  in  the  November,  victory  in  the  Oc 
tober  contests  are  already  yours.  Incorporate  the  vital  issues  of  re 
form  in  candidate  and  platform,  and  the  States  that  have  hon 
ored  Douglas  and  Lincoln,  the  States  that  to-day  honor  Hendricks 
and  Thurman,  Hancock  and  Parker,  Bayard  and  Tilden,  these  States, 
with  all  of  their  vast  population,  will  rise,  like  the  woods  and  the 


THE  ST.   LOUIS  CONVENTION.  3H 

winds  that  followed  the  fluting  Orpheus,  and    follow  you  to  vic 
tory. 

Owing  to  the  inability  of  the  Committee  on  Platform  to 
report  that  afternoon,  the  convention  adjourned  until  the  next 
day.  Before  this,  however,  Mr.  August  Belmoiit,  of  New 
York,  addressed  the  convention  as  follows : 

ME.  CHAIRMAN  :  I  hold  in  my  hands  a  resolution,  for  which  I 
claim  the  consideration  of  the  convention.  The  campaign  upon 
which  we  are  about  to  enter  is  of  vital  importance  to  the  destinies 
of  the  American  people — more  vital  than  any  presidential  election 
which  has  been  held  heretofore.  The  great  question  before  us  is, 
whether  we  will  set  aside  the  corrupt  Administration  which  is  leading 
the  country  on  to  ruin,  every  section  of  it,  and  give  to  our  country 
an  industry  and  prosperity  beyond  what  the  country  has  ever  seen 
before.  [Applause.]  The  question  is,  whether  the  iron  heel  of  mal 
administration  shall  be  upon  this  country,  or  whether  the  Demo 
cratic  party  may  once  more  hold  the  reins  of  government  and  restore 
the  country  to  union  and  prosperity.  [Applause.]  The  Republican 
leaders,  scheming,  unscrupulous,  and  oppressive  as  ever,  have  by 
their  speeches  in  Congress  and  the  teachings  of  a  partisan  press,  by 
their  platforms  in  their  State  and  National  Conventions,  tried  to 
divide  and  divert  the  attention  of  the  American  people  from  their 
misdeeds ;  and  they  appeal  to  the  worst  passions  of  the  people,  and 
endeavor  to  sow  the  seeds  of  discord  between  the  North  and  the 
South  this  Centennial  year  of  national  rejoicing,  when  the  hallowed 
memories  of  the  past  admonish  us  to  draw  close  together  in  the 
strongest  bonds  of  fraternity  and  union.  We  have  seen  the  soldiers 
of  South  Carolina  arm-in-arm  with  the  soldiers  of  Massachusetts 
upon  Bunker  Hill.  [Applause.]  We  have  seen  the  veterans  of  New 
England  adorn  with  flowers  the  graves  of  the  Confederate  soldiers :  a 
tribute  from  the  brave  to  the  brave.  [Cheers.] 

The  politicians  of  the  Administration  party,  bent  only  upon  their 
own  selfish  ends,  attempt  to  stir  up  the  worst  passions  of  human 
nature,  and,  not  satisfied  with  the  miseries  of  the  day,  are  willing  to 
leave  our  children  an  inheritance  of  suspicion,  prejudice,  and  hatred. 
They  have  played  the  same  nefarious  game  before,  and,  encouraged 
by  the  timorous  policy  of  our  leaders  in  former  conventions,  they 
hope  to  achieve  another  victory  through  our  fears,  which  made  us 


312  THE   LIFE  OF   SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

resort  to  expedients  and '  injudicious  nominations  outside  of  the 
Democratic  party.  Experience  has  shown  the  fallacy  of  such  a  policy, 
for  every  Republican  vote  which  we  gained,  or  hoped  to  gain,  we 
lost  the  votes  of  thousands  of  our  own  people. 

But  the  lessons  of  the  past  serve  as  warnings  at  this  juncture. 
This  is  a  struggle  between  the  Democracy,  representing  union,  prog 
ress,  and  prosperity,  and  the  Republicans,  representing  sectional 
strife,  religious  intolerance,  and  a  continuation  of  financial  and  in 
dustrial  prostration.  In  such  a  contest  victory  must  be  ours,  if  we 
adopt  a  strong  and  unequivocal  platform  on  all  of  the  cardinal  ques 
tions  which  agitate  the  people,  and  place  upon  it  a  national  Demo 
crat  whose  private  character  and  public  record  will  infuse  that  en 
thusiasm  and  that  confidence  into  our  ranks  which  alone  can  insure 
success.  The  Republicans  have  unce  more  unfurled  the  bloody  shirt, 
that  piratical  flag  with  which  they  hope  to  capture  the  liberties  of 
the  people.  Let  us  march  against  them  under  the  broad  banner  of 
the  Union,  that  flag  which  has  .never  known  and  will  never  know- 
defeat  either  from  domestic  or  foreign  foes. 

Mr.  Chairman,  I  offer  the  following  resolution,  which,  with  the 
consent  of  this  convention,  I  move  be  referred  to  the  Committee  on 
Resolutions : 

JResolved,  That  we  appeal  to  the  honor  and  manhood  of  the  Amer 
ican  people  to  begin  this  second  century  of  American  union  and  in 
dependence  by  trampling  under  foot,  and  extinguishing  forevefc-,  the 
smouldering  ashes-of  distrust,  rancor,  and  animosity,  between  the*  two 
great  sections  of  our  country.  We  denounce  with  indignation  the 
calculating  malignity  with  which  the  leaders  of  the  Republican  party 
have  labored  to  keep  alive,  during  eleven  years  of  peace,  the  worst 
passions  of  civil  war.  The  Machiavellian  motto  of  the  Republican 
party  has  been  and  is,  "Divide  the  people  and  we  shall  rule  tbem." 
For  the  Democratic  party  we  reply,  "  Unite  the  people  and  make 
them  free."  We  denounce  the  Republican  party  on  this  great  issue 
as  a  party  of  false  pretenses.  It  is  a  false  pretense  to  assume  the 
character  of  a  national  party,  and  at  the  same  time  to  exist  only  by  sec 
tional  divisions.  It  is  a  false  pretense  to  assume  the  name  of  Union 
party,  and  at  the  same  time  to  be  an  obstacle  to  national  unity.  It 
is  a  false  pretense  to  assume  the  name  of  Liberal  party,  and  at  the 
same  time  to  appeal  to  the  religious  prejudices  of  the  people.  It  is 
a  false  pretense  to  claim  the  title  of  a  progressive  party,  and  at  the 


THE  ST.   LOUIS   CONVENTION.  313 

same  time  to  turn  the  people  back  from  peace  and  the  future  to  war 
and  the  past. 

During  this  whole  day  of  preliminaries,  and  the  night 
which  followed,  the  work  of  Governor  Tilden's  opponents 
went  steadily  on.  Delegations  were  visited  by  committees 
of  speakers,  circulars  and  addresses  were  issued  and  scat 
tered  about  on  every  hand,  combinations  were  sought  with 
out  success,  arid  no  means  was  left  untried  to  break  his  ranks. 
The  point  of  assault,  both  for  the  Governor's  friends  and  op 
ponents,  was  the  South,  whose  delegations  had  come  to  the 
convention  agreeing  to  forego  all  personal  preferences  for 
candidates,  and  to  accept  any  man  whom  the  Northern  and 
Western  States  thought  most  likely  to  lead  the  Democratic 
party  to  victory  and  lift  from  the  neck  of  the  South  the  yoke 
of  Grantism.  The  unanimity  of  the  Southern  Democrats  in 
this  resolve  was  remarkable.  Ardent  as  their  preferences 
were  for  certain  candidates,  they  sternly  refused  to  give  way 
to  them,  and  sought  only  to  discover  what  was  best  for  the 
party  and  the  country.  It  was  their  evident  sincerity  and  their 
evident  determination  to  follow  out  their  convictions  that 
made  both  sides  to  this  controversy — for  the  discussion  of 
nominations  had  in  reality  simmered  down  to  a  controversy 
over  Tilden — so  hopeful  of  bringing  them  to  their  views.  The 
representations  of  Governor  Tilden's  opponents,  however, 
had  little  apparent  effect.  The  Southern  delegations  had 
been  largely  of  the  opinion  that  Governor  Tilden  was  the 
man  for  the  time,  and  they  seemed  to  be  equally  of  that  opin 
ion  still. 

The  morning  of  the  second  day  opened  bright  with 
promise  for  the  nomination  of  Governor  Tilden,  although  his 
friends  were  by  no  means  sure  of  an  easy  victory,  and  his 
opponents  had  not  given  up  their  hopes  of  successful 
strategy  and  combination. 

Meantime  the  financial  question  engaged  the  attention  of 
the  Committee  on  Resolutions.     General  Thomas  Ewing,  of 
Ohio,  and  Hon.  Daniel  W.  Voorhees,  of  Indiana,  distinguished 
14 


314  THE   LIFE   OF  SAMUEL    J.  TILDEN. 

representatives  of  the  greenback  doctrine,  were  awarded 
places  on  that  committee;  and  a  determined  attempt  was 
evidently  to  be  made,  first  in  the  committee,  and  then,  if 
necessary,  in  the  convention,  to  commit  the  party  to  their 
ideas.  They  pushed  the  question  in  the  committee,  which 
lasted  nearly  all  night,  and  renewed  it  at  the  adjourned  meet 
ing  the  next  morning  ;  but  on  every  vote  which  they  pro 
posed  they  were  beaten  by  an  overwhelming  majority.  They 
therefore  resolved  to  make  their  appeal  to  the  convention. 

The  convention  met  in  the  forenoon,  but  adjourned  till 
two  o'clock,  to  give  the  Committee  on  Resolutions  time  to 
finish  their  work.  At  the  hour  of  reassembling  the  great 
hall,  from  floor  to  gallery,  was  crowded. 

Judge  Meredith,  of  Virginia,  who  had  been  elected  chair 
man  of  the  Committee  on  Platform,  announced  that  the  reso 
lutions  would  be  read  by  Lieutenant-Governor  Dorsheimer, 
who  was  received  with  cordial  applause.  His  rendering  of 
the  platform  was  unique.  Instead  of  the  monotonous,  busi 
ness-like  tone  into  which  platform-readers  usually  fall,  Mr. 
Dorsheimer's  voice  was  the  voice  of  oratory,  and  his  gestures 
the  gestures  of  a  giant.  He  read  the  platform  with  wonder 
ful  effect,  giving  to  it  all  the  inflection  and  emphasis  of  a 
great  oration.  When  he  moved  back  from  his  place  at  the 
side  of  the  president's  desk,  General  Ewing  stepped  prompt 
ly  forward,  his  classic  face  rigid  with  determination  and 
paler  than  usual  with  excitement.  When  the  cheers  that 
greeted  him  had  subsided,  he  read  the  following  minority 
report  : 

The  undersigned  members  of  the/  committee  recommend  that  the 
following  clause  "in  the  resolutions  reported  by  the  committee  be 
stricken  out :  "  As  such  hinderance  we  denounce  the  resumption 
clause  of  the  act  of  1875,  and  we  here  demand  its  repeal."  [Cheers.] 
And  they  recommend  that  there  be  substituted  for  that  clause  the 
following  :  u  The  law  for  the  resumption  of  specie  payments  on  the 
1st  of  January,  1879,  having  been  enacted  by  the  Kepublican  party 
without  deliberation  in  Congress  or  discussion  before  the  people,  and 


THE   ST.   LOUIS   CONVENTION.  315 

being  both  ineffective  to  secure  its  objects  and  highly  injurious  to  the 
business  of  the  country,  ought  to  be  forthwith  repealed." 

T.  EWING,  Ohio.  II.  H.  TEIMBLE,  Iowa. 

D.  W.  VOOEHEES,  Indiana.  J.  J.  DAVIS,  West  Virginia. 

J.  0.  BEOWN,  Tennessee.  T.  L.  DAVIS,  Kansas. 

MALCOLM  HAY,  Pennsylvania.  E.  H.  HAEDIN,  Missouri. 

General  Ewing  then  explained  the  position  of  the  minor 
ity  as  follows  : 

I  desire  to  briefly  state  the  objection  to  the  clause  which  we 
propose  to  have  stricken  out.  It  denounces  only  the  clause  of  the 
specie-resumption  law  fixing  the  time  for  the  resumption  of  specie 
payments,  leaving  the  rest  of  the  act  to  stand  unobjected  to,  and,  by 
implication,  approving  it.  It  objects  to  that  clause  because  it  is  a 
hinderance  to  specie  payment.  The  construction  will  be  given;  and 
with  some  degree  of  plausibility  at  least,  that  the  Democratic  party 
want  resumption  earlier  than  the  date  fixed.  By  inference  the  bal 
ance  of  the  law  is  approved;  and  what  does  that  committee  say 
about  it  ?  It  commits  us  to  issuing  gold  bonds  to  take  up  the  cost 
less  fractional  currency.  It  commits  us  to  the  reduction  of  the  legal- 
tender  money  by  having  bank-paper  take  its  place,  thus  increasing 
the  power  of  an  already  dangerous  monopoly — a  monopoly  that  is 
thoroughly  hated  by  the  mass  of  the  Democracy  of  this  country.  It 
commits  us  to  the  perpetuation  of  the  national  bank  system,  for  if 
we  have  no  objection  to  the  iaw  except  the  date  of  resumption  we 
approve  then  the  provisions  for  the  raising  up  of  two  or  three  thou 
sand  great  monopolies  to  control  the  currency  of  this  country  in 
addition  to  the  two  thousand  we  already  have.  It  leaves  the  Secre 
tary  of  the  Treasury  with  perhaps  the  power  to  issue  gold  and  lock 
it  up  idly  in  the  Treasury,  awaiting  for  the  day  of  resumption,  a 
policy  to  which  the  Democracy — my  friends  of  the  West,  I  am  sure — 
are  almost  unanimously  opposed.  This  law  is  purely  a  Republican 
measure,  and  the  -sum  of  the  financial  villainies  of  the  Republican 
party. 

At  this  point  General  Ewing  was  interrupted  with  cries 
of  "  Time  j  time  !  "  which  completely  drowned  his  voice. 
Mr.  Williams,  of  Indiana,  moved  at  once  to  extend  the  gen 
eral's  time  fifteen  minutes,  but  this  proposition  was  greeted 


316  THE  LIFE   OF  SAMUEL    J.  TILDEN. 

with  cries  of  "  No  !  no  !  "  A  scene  of  great  confusion  en 
sued.  Mr.  Collins,  of  Massachusetts,  objected  to  the  exten 
sion  of  time,  but  withdrew  his  objection  when  requested  to 
do  so  by  Lieutenant-Governor  Dorsheimer,  and  when  the  re 
quest  was  seconded  by  Mr.  Kernan,  who  said  that  General 
Kwing  ought  to  be  allowed  further  time,  inasmuch  as  he  rep 
resented  a  portion  of  the  committee.  But  the  courtesy  was 
of  no  avail.  The  point  was  raised  that  under  the  rules  of 
the  convention  the  motion  to  suspend  the  rules  could  not  be 
entertained,  and  a  series  of  questions,  objections,  and  appeals 
followed  in  the  midst  of  so  much  earnest  protest  against  ex 
tending  the  time  and  infringing  upon  the  rules  which  the 
convention  had  adopted,  that  General  Ewing  finally  declined 
to  ask  the  further  indulgence  of  the  convention,  and  grace 
fully  withdrew. 

Then  came  the  pivotal  point  of  the  contest — the  most 
stirring  scene  of  the  convention.  Lieutenant-Governor 
Dorsheimer  stepped  forward  and  faced  the  convention.  He 
seemed  to  fit  the  place  and  the  occasion,  his  bearing  was  so 
impressive,  his  form  so  colossal.  He  said  : 

ME.  CHAIRMAN  AND  GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  CONVENTION  :  I  do  not 
propose  to  speak  upon  this  matter  at  length.  [He  rose  to  his  utmost 
height  and  his  clarion-voice  rang  out  all  over  the  great  hall.]  I  pro 
pose  here  to  make  a  straight  issue  between  soft  money  and  hard 
money.  [And  with  that  a  great  burst  of  cheering  went  up  that 
lasted  several  minutes].  By  that  we  stand  or  we  fall.  [Again  three 
cheers  rose  from  the  convention.]  If  you  want  soft  money  give 
your  votes  to  the  resolution  offered  by  the  most  distinguished  soft- 
money  advocate  in  the  United  States.  [Cheers  and  hisses.]  -But  if 
you  want  to  leave  to  the  hard-money  men  some  chance  to  carry  their 
States,  then  stand  by  the  report  of  the  committee  [cheers],  which 
was  a  compromise  so  great  that  a  protest  has  been  here  signed  by 
every  one  of  the  Eastern  Democratic  States,  and  to  which  I  have  put 
my  own  signature,  [Cheers.]  There  is  a  middle  ground  which,  does 
leave  some  hope.  But  if  you  declare,  in  the  language  of  the  gentle 
man  from  Ohio  (General  Ewing),  for  a  repeal  forthwith,  then  aban 
don  all  your  hopes.  [Cheers.]  I  make  this  issue  fair.  [A  voice : 


THE   ST.   LOUIS  CONVENTION.  317 

"  You  will  get  enough  of  it!  "]  As  I  said,  we  will  stand  to  that,  and 
now,  Mr.  President,  I  demand  a  vote  by  the  States.  [Cheers,  hisses, 
and  applause.] 

Daniel  W.  Voorhees,  of  Indiana,  was  the  next  speaker. 
He  made  a  skillful  plea,  but  Mr.  Dorsheimer's  bold  and  hon 
est  denunciation  of  the  minority  report  had  placed  the 
issue  nakedly  before  the  convention  in  such  a  way  that  soph 
istry  could  not  again  disguise  it.  He  said  : 

The  issue  that  is  stated  by  the  gentleman  from  New  York  is  a 
false  issue  so  far  as  this  platform  is  concerned.  There  are  issues 
raised  here  as  between  hard  money  and  soft,  so  called.  The  platform 
to  which  the  minority  agree  contains  repeated  stipulations  that  we 
are  in  favor  at  as  early  a  period  as  practicable  of  specie  payments. 
"We  are  all  in  favor  of  that.  I  am  in  favor  of  a  resumption  of  specie 
payment  as  soon  as  the  true  and  healthful  interests  of  this  country 
will  permit.  He  who  desires  specie  resumption  at  an  earlier  day 
than  that  desires  it  for  some  private  and  far  from  patriotic  motive. 
Men  of  New  York  sitting  here  before  you  have  at  this  moment  de 
clared  in  favor  of  a  resumption  of  specie  payment  on  the  1st  .day  of 
January,  1879.  We  are  two  years  farther  from  a  gold  basis  to-day 
than  we  were  when  it  was  enacted.  The  Government  currency  is 
not  as  near  unto  a  fair  basis  by  two  per  cent,  as  it  was  before  this 
miserable,  bungling  law  was  enacted  upon  the  statute-books.  I 
stand  for  a  growth  of  the  country  to  specie  payments;  I  stand  for 
that  aid  to  specie  payment  which  comes  by  a  return  of  wealth  and 
prosperity.  "We  can  all  remember  a  time  when  our  paper  was  w^orth 
only  forty  cents  on  a  dollar  in  gold.  It  had  grown  to  be  worth 
ninety  cents  before  that  law  was  passed.  "When  it  has  risen  by  the 
natural  laws  of  trade,  by  laws  of  God's  growth  and  prosperity,  re 
turning  to  the  country  fifty  cents  on  the  dollar  in  the  course  of  eight 
years,  let  us  trust  that  the  gap  of  only  about  ten  or  twelve  per-cent. 
remaining  will  be  closed  up,  by  the  same  great  laws,  in  a  very  short 
time  in  the  future.  My  friends,  something  was  said  by  the  gentle 
man  from  New  York  about  the  effect  in  his  State  and  other  States. 

I  stand  here  surrounded  by  ten  States  who  have  a  right  to  be 
heard  on  this  subject — West  Virginia,  Ohio,  my  own  grand  Demo 
cratic  State  of  Indiana ;  Missouri,  on  whoso  bosom  we  are  holding 
this  convention  ;  Tennessee,  that  contains  the  Hermitage  and  the 


318  THE   LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

ashes  of  Jackson  and  Polk  ;  Iowa,  and  Kansas.  Are  they  not  to  he 
considered  ?  Do  they  amount  to  nothing  ?  I  will  say,  with  all  re 
spect  to  the  gentleman  from  New  York  who  has  just  sat  down,  that 
we  have  followed  the  lead  of  New  York  for  twelve  long  years,  and 
each  time  to  disaster.  And  I  for  one  assert  the  West,  the  mighty 
West,  with  its  teeming  population ;  I  assert  the  power  of  this  Missis 
sippi  Valley  with  its  mighty  interests  and  its  great  resources. 

At  the  close  of  Mr.  Voorhees's  speech  Mr.  Watterson  spoke 
briefly,  taking  the  ground  that  the  convention  had  delegated 
the  duty  of  preparing  a  platform  to  a  committee,  and  com 
mon-sense  dictated  acquiescence  in  the  work  of  a  large  ma 
jority  of  that  committee. 

Another  scene  of  great  confusion  ensued,  many  delegates 
asking  to  be  heard,  and  one  from  Pennsylvania  bitterly  de 
nouncing  the  gag  law,  and  insisting  on  the  freedom  of  de 
bate. 

Mr.  Abbett,  of  New  Jersey,  asked,  a  division  of  the  ques 
tion.  He  was  in  favor  of  the  motion  to  strike  out,  but  was 
opposed  to  inserting  what  was  proposed,  for  he  was  for  hard 
money. 

The  previous  question  was  seconded. 

Mr.  Doolittle  made  a  few  remarks  amid  much  disorder,  in 
which  he  said  victory  or  death  depended  on  the  question  now 
before  the  convention,  and  he  desired  to  move  an  amendment 
to  the  pending  amendment. 

Mr.  Cox,  of  New  York,  demanded  a  vote  by  States  on 
the  main  question,  which,  having  been  divided,  was  first 
stated  on  the  motion  to  strike  out. 

Mr.  Doolittle  moved  to  adjourn.     Lost. 

An  attempt  was  made  to  call  the  roll,  but  the  disorder 
was  so  great  that  delegates  could  not  hear  enough  to  under 
stand  the  question. 

A  Texas  delegate  moved  to  clear  the  galleries.  As  the 
chair  did  not  put  the  question,  he  evidently  did  not  under 
stand  it.  The  excitement  was  long-continued,  with  increasing 
force  and  violence,  a  dozen  gentlemen  speaking  at  once. 

Pennsylvania  retired  for  consultation. 


THE  ST.  LOUIS  CONVENTION.  319 

Mr.  Burch,  of  Tennessee,  wanted  to  know  whether,  if 
the  vote  to  strike  out  should  prevail,  and  the  convention 
failed  to  insert  the  proposed  substitute,  the  effect  would  be 
to  leave  the  resumption  act  to  stand  as  it  is. 

The  chair  answered  in  the  affirmative. 

Mr.  Burch  wanted  to  know  then  whether  any  parliamen 
tary  legerdemain  could  then  cheat  the  convention  out  of  the 
opportunity  to  have  a  square  vote  on  the  minority  report. 

After  this  excited  discussion  had  somewhat  subsided  the 
roll-call  of  States  was  begun.  Alabama  gave  20  votes  for 
the  hard-money  report,  Arkansas  gave  12,  California  gave  12, 
Colorado  gave  6,  Connecticut  12,  Delaware  6,  Florida  8,  and 
Georgia  22.  So  far  nearly  a  hundred  votes  had  been  cast  for 
the  hard-money  report,  and  not  one  State  had  given  a  single 
vote  against  it.  All  the  fears  of  the  hard-money  men,  if  there 
had  been  any,  were  swept  away  in  a  great,  happy  cheer.  Illi 
nois  was  the  first  divided  State,  giving  18  votes  for  the  amend 
ment  and  22  against  it.  Indiana  voted  her  30  votes. solidly 
for  the  amendment,  and  so  did  Kentucky,  which  voted  under 
a  unit  rule,  and  was  in  the  hands  of  a  greenback  majority. 
Now  came  another  line  of  hard-money  States.  Louisiana 
gave  16  votes  against  the  amendment,  Maine  14,  Maryland 
16,  Massachusetts  26,  Michigan  17,  Minnesota  10,  Mississippi 
16,  Nebraska  6,  Nevada  6,  New  Hampshire  10,  New  Jersey 
18,  New  York  70,  and  North  Carolina  20.  The  vote  of  New 
York  was  greeted  with  a  cheer  that  meant  Tilden  as  well  as 
hard  money,  and  was  as  significant  as  it  was  hearty.  The 
defeat  of  the  amendment  was  already  overwhelming,  but  it 
was  not  yet  finished.  Five  of  the  Michigan  votes  had  gone 
over  to  the  minority,  with  9  of  the  30  cast  by  Missouri,  but 
18  of  the  44  votes  of  Ohio  were  cast  in  General  E wing's  teeth 
for  the  majority  report.  Tennessee  and  West  Virginia  joined 
themselves  to  the  amendment,  but  Wisconsin  gave  all  her  20 
votes  the  other  way.  Pennsylvania  had  retired  for  consultation 
and  now  returned,  announcing  through  Senator  Wallace,  the 
chairman,  that  the  whole  vote  of  the  delegation  was  to  be  given, 
under  the  unit  rule,  to  the  minority  report.  The  cheering  at 


320  THE   LIFE   OF   SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

this  juncture  drowned  the  explanation  that  23  of  the  58  votes 
had  been  cast  in  the  meeting  of  the  delegation  for  the  hard- 
money  report.  The  announcement  of  the  totals  of  the  vote 
was  awaited  with  eager  interest,  and  when  the  clerks  called 
out  that  219  votes  had  been  cast  for  the  minority  report,  and 
515  for  the  majority  report,  the  convention  cheered  and 
cheered  again,  the  galleries  cheered,  arid  word  ran  down  the 
crowded  halls  and  stairways  that  the  hard-money  victory  was 
complete  and  overwhelming.  This  ended  all  doubts  as  to  the 
integrity  of  the  platform  or  the  ticket.  "  Hard  money  "  had 
been  inscribed  upon  the  banners  of  the  Democracy,  and  the 
one  name  that  could  best  head  the  platform  of  hard  money 
and  thorough  reform  was  on  the  lips  of  all.  Tilden's  nomina 
tion  was  now  inevitable. 

Before  the  naming  of  candidates  was  begun,  Mr.  Doolittle 
moved  to  reconsider  the  vote  by  which  the  report  was  adopted, 
in  order  to  incorporate  a  proposition  which  he  read,  in  favor 
of  silver  as  legal  tender,  as  well  as  gold,  and  the  restoration . 
of  a  double  standard  of  gold  and  silver  at  a  just  and  respec 
tive  valuation.  This  was  followed  by  his  former  proposition 
in  favor  of  gradual  resumption  only. 

Mr.  McLane,  of  Maryland,  moved  that  the  motion  to  re 
consider  should  be  placed  on  the  table,  and,  in  the  midst  of 
calls  for  a  vote  by  States,  the  chair  announced  it  carried. 

Mr.  Hutchings  moved  that  the  vote  in  favor  of  the  plat 
form  be  made  unanimous,  and  assigned  his  five  minutes  for 
debate  to  Mr.  Cox,  of  New  York,  who,  however,  was  inter 
rupted  by  calls  of  order,  and  amid  great  confusion  was  com 
pelled  to  take  his  seat  unheard. 

The  convention  now  proceeded  to  the  work  of  nomination. 
First,  the  candidates  were  presented  in  response  to  a  call  of 
the  States.  Delaware  named  her  truly  favorite  son,  Thomas 
Francis  Bayard,  the  worthy  occupant  of  the  senatorial  chair 
filled  by  three  Bayards  before  him.  Ex-Congressman  William 
G.  Whitney  presented  his  name  in  an  eloquent  speech. 

Mr.  Williams,  of  Illinois,  presented  the  name  of  Governor 
Thomas  A.  Hendricks,  of  Indiana.  [Great  applause.]  He 


THE  ST.   LOUIS  CONVENTION.  321 

said  there  was  no. fire  in  his  rear.     With  him  they  would 
carry  Indiana  by  20,000  majority. 

Mr.  Fuller,  of  Indiana,  seconded  Hendricks's  nomination 
.  eloquently  and  forcibly.  Mr.  Campbell,  of  Tennessee,  by  in 
struction  of  its  convention,  also  seconded  the  nomination  of 
Governor  Hendricks,  under-  whose  lead  Tennessee  felt  more 
confident  of  success  than  under  any  other. 

Then  there  was  an  interesting  little  blunder.  By  an  error 
of  the  printer,  New  York  was  printed  on  the  roll  of  States 
before  New  Jersey,  and  the  secretary,  in  running  rapidly 
down  the  list,  called  New  York  almost  without  knowing  it. 
But  the  convention  caught  at  it  on  the  instant,  and  broke  out 
in  prolonged  cheering,  waving  of  handkerchiefs  and  fans,  and 
applause  that  could  not  be  checked  for  a  considerable  interval. 
Then  the  convention  sat  down  again,  and  had  a  quiet  smile 
over  its  premature  outbreak  of  enthusiasm.  It  had  been 
New  Jersey's  turn  all  the  time.  This  steadfast  Democratic 
State  presented  the  name  of  its  war  Governor,  Joel  Parker, 
who  earned  Lincoln's  commendation  for  his  services  to  the 
General  Government,  and  who  had  his  troops  in  Pennsylvania, 
when  the  territory  of  that  State  was  invaded,  within  forty- 
eight  hours  after  the  call  was  made  from  Washington.  State 
Senator  Leon  Abbett  made  a  ringing  speech  in  his  favor. 

Then  came  New  York.  Francis  Kernan,  the  Democratic 
Senator  from  the  Empire  State,  came  forward  to  speak ;  and, 
as  the  convention  recognized  his  stern  Roman  face,  fringed 
with  silver  hair,  there  was  a  hearty  cheer.  He  spoke  admir 
ingly  of  the  candidates  who  had  been  already  named,  while 
avowing  his  preference  for  the  Governor  of  his  own  State. 
He  said : 

The  great  issue  upon  which  this  election  will  be  lost  or  won  is 
that  question  of  needed  administrative  reform;  and,  in  selecting  our 
candidates,  if  we  had  a  man  that  had  been  so  fortunate  as  to  be  placed 
in  a  public  position,  who  ha.d  laid  his  hand  on  dishonest  officials,  no 
matter  to  what  party  they  belonged,  or  had  rooted  out  abuses  in  the 
discharge  of  his  duty,  who  had  shown  himself  willing  and  able  to 
bring  down  taxation  and  inaugurate  reform,  if  we  are  wise  men  and 


322  THE  LIFE   OF   SAMUEL   J.   TILDEN. 

have  such  a  man,  it  is  no  disparagement  to  any  other  candidate  to 
say  that  this  is  the  man  that  will  command  the  confidence  of 
men  who  have  not  been  always  with  the  Democracy,  and  make  our 
claim  strong,  so  that  it  will  sweep  all  over  this  Union  a  triumphant 
party  vote.  Governor  Tilden  was  selected  as  Governor  of  our  State; 
he  came  into  office  January  1,  1875.  The  direct  taxes  collected' from 
our  tax-ridden  people  in  the  tax  levy  of  1874  were  over  $15,000,000. 
[Applause.]  He  has  be.en  in  office  eighteen  months,  and  the  tax  levy 
for  the  State  Treasury  in  this  year,  1876,  is  only  $8,000,000.  [Cheers.] 
If  you  go  among  our  farming  people,  among  our  men  who  find  busi 
ness  coming  down  and  their  produce  bringing  low  prices,  you  will 
find  that  they  have  faith  in  the  man  who  has  reduced  taxation,  in  the 
State  of  New  York,  one-half  in  eighteen  months  [applause] ;  and  you 
will  hear  .the  honest  men  throughout  the  country  say  that  they  want 
the  man  who  will  do  at  Washington  what  has  been  done  in  the  State 
of  New  York.  [Cheers.]  Now,  do  not  misunderstand  me.  We 
have  other  worthy  men  and  good  in  the  State  of  New  York  who,  if 
they  had  had  the  chance  to  be  elected,  and  had  had  a  chance  to  dis 
cover  the  frauds  in  our  State  administration,  among  our  canals, 
which  were  thus  depleting  our  people,  would  .have  done  the  work 
faithfully.  I  doubt  not  but  it  so  happened  that  Samuel  J.  Tilden — 
that  the  great  Democratic  party  of  the  State  of  New  York — reaped 
this  great  benefit  for  our  people,  and  this  great  honor  for  our  party, 
because  they  elected  Samuel  J.  Tilden. 

John  Kelly,  of  New  York,  next  took  the  platform,  but  an 
attempt  was  made  to  hiss  him  down.  [A  delegate — "  There 
seem  to  be  some  geese  in  the  hall."  Cries  of  "  Clear  the 
galleries ! "]  But  with  Kelly's  first  sentence  complete  order 
was  restored  until  some  one  made  a  point  that  he  was  out  of 
order  unless  he  intended  to  second  Mr.  Tilden's  nomination, 
when  ensued  a  scene  of  confusion,  with  hisses  and  calls  for 
"  Kelly  !  Kelly  ! " 

Mr.  Hut  chins,  of  Missouri,  insisted  upon  order.  He  ex- 
pe6ted  to  vote  for  Tilden,  but  Kelly  was  entitled  to  be  heard. 

A  delegate  from  Kansas  demanded  the  "  scotching  of 
vipers  who  hiss."  [Applause.] 

Mr.  Kernan,  of  New  York,  urged  the  respectful  hearing 
of  Kelly,  and  finally  cries  for  Kelly  were  overwhelming. 


THE   ST.   LOUIS  CONVENTION.  323 

Mr.  Kelly  finally  proceeded,  urging  that  the  nomination 
of  a  Western  candidate  for  President  will  secure  Indiana  and 
Ohio  in  October ;  but,  if  they  lose  those  States,  then  it  would 
be  impossible  to  save  New  York  in  November. 

Some  one  on  the  platform  interrupting  with  a  call  for 
three  cheers  for  Tilden,  a  delegate  demanded  that  the  ser- 
geant-at-arms  proceed  to  eject  him  from  his  seat. 

Mr.  Kelly  persisted  in  his  right  to  the  floor  until  he  had 
finished,  despite  efforts  to  interrupt  him  by  calls  of  "  Time  ! " 
and  the  failure  of  the  chair  to  enforce  order. 

Mr.  Tilden's  nomination  was  seconded  by  Colonel  Flour- 
ney,  of  Virginia,  and  ex-Congressman  Herndon,  of  Texas, 
who  promised  Tilden  a  majority  of  100,000.  The  other  nomi 
nations  followed  in  quick  succession.  General  Ewing  present 
ed  the  name  of  the  farmer-statesman  of  Ohio,  William  Allen. 
Heister  Clymer,  of  Pennsylvania,  presented  the  gallant  sol 
dier  and  law-respecting  officer,  General  Winfield  Scott  Han 
cock  ;  and  General  Brente,  of  Louisiana,  and  Mr.  Sexton, 
of  Texas,  seconded  the  nomination.  Two  delegates  from 
Wisconsin  -closed  the  list  of  speeches,  George  B.  Smith 
pledging  the  electoral  vote  of  that  State  to  Tilden ;  and  ex- 
Senator  Doolittle  urging  the  nomination  of  Governor  Hen- 
dricks,  on  the  ground  that  New  York  could  not  be  carried  in 
November  unless  Indiana  was  carried  in  October, 

The  first  ballot  began.  Alabama  led  off  with  13  of  its  20 
votes  for  Tilden.  •  Arkansas  and  California  threw  their  whole 
vote  for  Tilden.  Colorado  complimented  Governor  Hendricks 
for  personal  reasons.  Florida  was  all  for  Tilden ;  but  Georgia, 
that  had  been  counted  on  for  a  pretty  large  vote,  gave  him 
but  5.  Illinois,  too,  showed  a  little  failing,  giving  him  but  19 
votes.  Kentucky  gave  him  all  her  24,  and  Louisiana  9.  The 
five  States  that  followed  gave  him  75  more  votes,  and  his  ex 
pected  strength  remained  with  him  to  the  end  of  the  list.  It 
was  not  long  before  it  was  known  that  Tilden  had  more  than 
400  votes,  and  there  was  a  wild  cheer  of  delight.  This  was 
the  first  ballot: 


324 


THE  LIFE   QF  SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 


STATES. 

1 
H 

aj 

1 

W 

Parker. 

t 

1 

1 

New  York  

70 

Massachusetts     

26 

Illinois 

19 

23 

California      .        ....        

12 

Maine  

14 

Arkansas 

"12 

Colorado  

6 

Connecticut  

12 

Alabama                           ... 

13 

5 

2 

Iowa 

14 

6 

2 

Indiana 

30 

Kansas  

10 

Georgia 

5 

1 

16 

Virginia  

17 

1 

4 

New  Hampshire 

10 

West  Virginia.                  ...        

10 

New  Jersey 

18 

Texas  

104 

24 

2 

1 

Vermont  

10 

South  Carolina 

14 

Rhode  Island  

8 

Missouri        •                               .... 

2 

7 

2 

19 

AVisconsin  ....                       

19 

1 

6 

Ten'nessee  .      .                                    .... 

24 

Mississippi.  .  . 

16 

9 

5 

2 

Oregon.  

6 

Ohio.  .                                      

44 

Pennsylvania  

58 

10 

Maryland  

11 

3 

2 

8 

North  Carolina           

9 

4 

5 

2 

Kentucky 

24 

Nevada  

3 

3 

Nebraska      . 

6 

Michigan  

14 

8 

Totals  .  . 

403* 

1334 

'77 

18 

31 

56 

19 

Whole  vote 713 

Necessary  for  a  choice. . .   476 

For  Governor  Tilden 403£ 

For  Governor  Hendricks.   133^ 
For  Broadhead 


For  General  Hancock 75 

For  ex-Governor  Allen 56 

For  Senator  Bayard.  .....  27 

For  ex-Governor  Parker  ...  18 
.   19 


THE  ST.   LOUIS   CONVENTION.  325 

Before  the  vote  was  announced,  however,  the  Tilden  wave 
began  already  to  run  higher.  Mr.  Hutchins,  of  Missouri,  asked 
if  it  was  in  order  to  change  votes,  and,  on  being  informed 
that  it  was,  changed  14  of  the  votes  for  Broadhead  to  7 
for  Hendricks  and  7  for  Tilden.  This  was  the  first  break, 
and  all  hope  of  defeating  Tilden  by  a  stampede  to  another 
candidate  was  gone. 

The  second  ballot  was  like  the  pouring  of  a  flood.  Ala 
bama  cast  all  her  20  votes  for  Tilden,  and  Colorado  gave  him 
the  6  which  Hendricks  had  received  before.  In  Georgia  he 
made  a  solid  gain  of  10,  in  Illinois  of  4,  in  Iowa  and  Kansas 
of  2  each.  The  only  question  now  was,  whether  he  would  be 
nominated  on  this  or  the  following  ballot.  When  the  vote 
of  Wisconsin  had  been  cast,  Tilden  had  467  votes,  25  short 
of  the  requisite  two-thirds.  But  the  convention  was  in  no 
mood  for  a  third  ballot.  They  were  so  anxious  to  nominate 
Tilden  that  they  wanted  to  make  sure  of  him  at  once'.  Iowa 
made  her  vote  unanimous,  giving  him  four  more.  Illinois 
gave  29,  or  two  more  than  before.  Finally,  Missouri  gave  20 
votes,  and  then,  almost  before  the  change  had  been  recorded, 
28  votes  for  Tilden.  At  this  the  clamor  and  babel  of  thou 
sands  of  men  on  their  feet,  shouting,  appealing  to  the  chair, 
calling  for  order  and  for  the  vote,  and  a  great  many  other 
things  they  could  not  get,  btoke  into  one  great  triumphant 
roar  of  applause.  By  one  of  those  flashes  of  intelligence  that 
run  like  lightning  through  an  excited  crowd,  the  news  had 
sped  without  words  that  Tilden  was  nominated.  While  the 
band  was  playing,  the  great  gathering  was  shouting  itself 
hoarse,  men  were  leaping  upon  desks  and  chairs,  and  cheer 
ing  again  and  again.  The  secretaries  were  seen  to  be  calling 
out  something — they  could  not  be  heard.  At  last  they  held 
up  two  fingers — Tilden  needed  two  more  votes.  There  were 
changes  to  Tilden  and  from  him,  but  Delaware  gave  the  two 
needed  votes,  and  tl^e  universal  joy  broke  out  again.  The 
appended  table  gives  the  vote  of  each  State  on  the  second 
ballot : 


'    UNIVERSITY 

V      OF 


326 


THE  LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 


STATES. 

1 

Hendricks. 

Hancock. 

Parker. 

Thurman. 

! 

n 

d 

S 
<1 

Texas       

16 

Michigan                                             

19 

3 

18 

New  York  

70 

North  Carolina  

20 

Ohio  

44 

6 

Pennsylvania  

58 

Khode  Island              .  .          

8 

Illinois  

26 

16 

Indiana  

80 

Iowa  

20 

2 

Kansas                                   .                  .  . 

2  " 

8 

Kentucky  t  

94 

Louisiana  

16 

Maine  

14 

Maryland                                              .  .    . 

14 

2 

Massachusetts  

26 

•• 

Minnesota                         . 

10 

Mississippi  

16 

Missouri  

30 

Nebraska     .                   

6 

Nevada  

4 

2 

New  Hampshire                          

10 

Alabama  

20 

Arkansas.  .                                  i  ........ 

12 

California  

12 

Colorado  

6 

Connecticut  

12 

Delaware 

6 

Florida  

8 

Georgia 

15 

7 

South  Carolina  

14 

Tennessee  

9,4 

Vermont  

10 

Virginia  . 

17 

1 

4 

West  Virginia  

10 

^Vlsconsin  .                                               . 

19 

1 

Totals  .  . 

508 

75 

60 

18 

2 

11 

54 

Other  changes  followed,  and  the  vote  which  made  Samuel 
J.  Tilden  the  choice  of  the  Democratic-  National  Convention 
was  finally  announced  as  follows : 


THE  ST.  LOUIS  CONVENTION.  327 


Whole  vote 738 

Necessary  for  a  choice.. .  492 

For  Thden 535 

For  Hendricks.*.  60 


For  Allen 54 

For  Parker 18 

For  Hancock 59 

For  Bayard 11 


For  Thurman 2 

Pennsylvania  moved  to  make  the  nomination  unanimous, 
and,  Indiana  seconding  the  motion,  this  was  done.  It  was 
now  twenty  minutes  past  eight  o'clock,  and  the  convention 
adjourned  until  the  next  morning,  the  delegates  passing  out 
slowly  to  exchange  joyful  congratulations,  and  meeting  out 
side  the  enthusiastic  demonstrations  of  the  people. 

The  session  of  the  convention  the  next  day  was  brief. 
Various  names  had  been  thought  of  as  candidates  for  the 
office  of  Vice-President,  among  them  those  of  Henry  B.  Payne, 
of  Ohio,  and  William  R.  Morrison,  of  Illinois,  chairman  of 
the  Committee  on  Ways  and  Means  of  the  House.  The  senti 
ment,  however,  was  so  overwhelming  in  favor  of  the  nomina 
tion  of  Governor  Hendricks  that  his  nomination  was  soon 
seen  to  be  inevitable.  He  received  730  out  of  738  votes  on 
the  first  and  only  ballot,  and  his  nomination  was  made  unani 
mous  amid  the  greatest  enthusiasm.  It  was  known  that  he 
was  unwilling  to  take  the  place,  and  the  Indiana  delegation, 
through  its  spokesmen,  expressly  disavowed  all  responsibility 
in  connection  with  the  nomination ;  but  it  was  believed  that 
Governor  Hendricks  could  not  and  would  not  disregard  the 
unanimous  wish  of  the  party  so  enthusiastically  expressed. 
In  that  belief  he  was  chosen  without  a  voice  of  dissent. 

The  last  act  of  importance  was  the  passage  by  the  con 
vention  of  a  resolution  directing  that  conventions  be  requested 
to  instruct  delegates  to  the  next  National  Convention  as  to 
the  propriety  of  abolishing  the  two-thirds  rule. 

Thus  closed  the  National  Democratic  Convention  of  1876. 
It  had  nominated  its  ablest  candidate  and  most  successful  re 
former;  it  had  placed  him  on  a  platform  which  demanded  a 
revolution  of  reform,  and  it  had  settled  the  vexed  financial 
question  amicably,  and  therefore  satisfactorily.  Its  work  was 
well  done. 


328  THE   LIFE   OF   SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 


THE     PLATFORM. 


KEFOKM   A   PATEIOTIO   DUTY. 

We,  tlie  delegates  of  the  Democratic  party  of  the  United 
States  in  National  Convention  assembled,  do  hereby  declare 
the  administration  of  the  Federal  Government  to  be  in  urgent 
need  of  immediate  reform  ;  do  hereby  enjoin  upon  the  nomi 
nees  of  this  convention,  and  of  the  Democratic  party  in  each 
State,  a  zealous  effort  and  cooperation  to  this  end  ;  and  do 
hereby  appeal  to  our  fellow-citizens,  of  every  former  political 
connection,  to  undertake  with  us.  this  first  and  most  pressing 
patriotic  duty. 

THE   UNION  AND   CONSTITUTION. 

For  the  Democracy  of  the  whole  country,  we  do  hereby 
reaffirm  our  faith  in  the  permanence  of  the  Federal  Union, 
our  devotion  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  with  its 
amendments  universally  accepted  as  a  final  settlement  of  the 
controversies  that  engendered  civil  war,  and  do  here  record 
our  steadfast  confidence  in  the  perpetuity  of  republican  self- 
government. 

MOEAL   PEODUCTS    OF   A   HUNDEED   TEAES. 

In  absolute  acquiescence  in  the  will  of  the  majority — the 
vital  principle  of  republics  ; 

In  the  supremacy  of  the  civil  over  the  military  authority  ; 

In  the  total  separation  of  Church  and  State,  for  the  sake 
alike  of  civil  and  religious  freedom ; 

In  the  equality  of  all  citizens  before  just  laws  of  their  own 
enactment ; 

In  the  liberty  of  individual  conduct,  unvexed  by  sumptu 
ary  laws ; 

In  the  faithful  education  of  the  rising  generation,  that 


THE  ST.   LOUIS  CONVENTION.  329 

they  may  preserve,  enjoy,  and  transmit  these  best  conditions 
of  human  happiness  and  hope — 

We  behold  the  noblest  products  of  a  hundred  years  of 
changeful  history. 

But,  while  upholding  the  bond  of  our  Union  and  great 
charter  of  these  our  best  rights,  it  behooves  a  free  people  to 
practise  also  that  eternal  vigilance  which  is  the  price  of 
liberty. 

MISKTTLE   AND   HAED   TIMES. 

Reform  is  necessary  to  rebuild  and  establish,  in  the  hearts 
of  the  whole  people,  the  Union,  eleven  years  ago  happily 
rescued  from  the  danger  of  a  secession  of  States  ;  but  now  to 
be  saved  from  a  corrupt  centralism  which,  after  inflicting 
upon  ten  States  the  rapacity  of  carpet-bag  tyrannies,  has 
honey-combed  the  offices  of  the  Federal  Government  itself 
with  incapacity,  waste,  and  fraud  ;  infected  States  and  mu 
nicipalities  with  the  contagion  of  misrule,  and  locked  fast  the 
prosperity  of  an  industrious  people  in  the  paralysis  of  "  hard 
times." 

HAED    MONEY. 

Reform  is  necessary  to  establish  a  sound  currency,  restore 
the  public  credit,  and  maintain  the  national  honor. 

We  denounce  the  failure  of  all  these  eleven  years  of  peace 
to  make  good  the  promise  of  the  legal-tender  notes,  which 
are  a  changing  standard  of  value  in  the  hands  of  the  people, 
and  the  non-payment  of  which  is  a  disregard  of  the  plighted 
faith  of  the  nation. 

We  denounce  the  improvidence  which,  in  eleven  years  of 
peace,  has  taken  from  the  people,  in  Federal  taxes,  thirteen 
times  the  whole  amount  of  the  legal-tender  notes,  and  squan 
dered  four  times  their  sum  in  useless  expense,  without  accu 
mulating  any  reserve  for  their  redemption. 

EETEENCHMENT   AND   EESUMPTION. 

We  denounce  the  financial  imbecility  and  immorality  of 
that  party  which,  during  eleven  years  of  peace,  has  made  no 


330  THE   LIFE   OF  SAMUEL   J.  TILDEN. 

advance  toward  resumption,  no  preparation  for  resumption, 
but  instead  has  obstructed  resumption,  by  wasting  our  re 
sources  and  exhausting  all  our  surplus  income  ;  and,  while 
annually  professing  to  intend  a  speedy  return  to  specie  pay 
ments,  has  annually  enacted  fresh  hinderances  thereto.  As 
such  a  hinderance  we  denounce  the  resumption  clause  of  the 
act  of  1875,  and  demand  its  repeal. 

We  demand  a  judicious  system  of  preparation  by  public 
economies,  by  official  retrenchments,  and  by  wise  finance, 
which  shall  enable  the  nation  soon  to  assure  the  whole  world 
of  its  perfect  ability  and  its  perfect  readiness  to  meet  any  of 
its  promises  at  the  call  of  the  creditor  entitled  to  pay 
ment. 

We  believe  such  a  system,  well  devised,  and,  above  all* 
intrusted  to  competent  hands  for  execution,  creating  at  no 
time  an  artificial  scarcity  of  currency,  and  at  no  time  alarm 
ing  the  public  mind  into  a  withdrawal  of  that  vaster  machinery 
of  credit  by  which  ninety-five  per  cent,  of  all  business  trans 
actions  are  performed — a  system  open,  public,  and  inspiring 
general  confidence,  would  from  the  day  of  its  adoption  bring 
healing  on  its  wings  to  all  our  harassed  industries,  set  in  mo 
tion  the  wheels  of  commerce,  manufactures,  and  the  mechanic 
arts,  restore  employment  to  labor,  and  renew  in  all  its  natural 
sources  the  prosperity  of  the  people. 

BEFOEM  IN  FEDEEAL  TAXATION. 

JReform  is  necessary  in  the  sum  and  modes  of  Federal 
taxation,  to  the  end  that  capital  may  be  set  free  from  dis 
trust,  and  labor  lightly  burdened. 

We  denounce  the  present  tariff,  levied  upon  nearly  four 
thousand  articles,  as  a  masterpiece  of  injustice,  inequality, 
and  false  pretense. 

It  yields  a  dwindling,  not  a  yearly  rising  revenue. 

It  has  impoverished  many  industries  to  subsidize  a  few. 

It  prohibits  imports  that  might  purchase  the  produce  of 
American  labor. 


THE  ST.   LOUIS  CONVENTION.  331 

It  has  degraded  American  commerce  from  the  first  to  an 
inferior  rank  on  the  high-seas. 

It  has  cut  down  the  sales  of  American  manufactures  at 
home  and  abroad,  and  depleted  the  returns  of  American  agri 
culture — an  industry  followed  by  half  our  people. 

It  costs  the  people  five  times  more  than  it  produces  to  the 
Treasury,  obstructs  the  processes  of  production,  and  wastes 
the  fruits  of  labor. 

It  promotes  fraud,  fosters  smuggling,  enriches  dishonest 
officials,  and  bankrupts  honest  merchants. 

We  demand  that  all  custom-house  taxation  shall  be  only 
for  revenue. 

KEFOEM  IN   PUBLIC   EXPENSES. 

Reform  is  necessary  in  the  scale  of  public  expense — Fed 
eral,  State,  and  municipal.  Our  Federal  taxation  has  swollen 
from  60  millions  gold,  in  1860,  to  450  millions  currency  in 
1870 ;  our  aggregate  taxation  from  154  millions  gold  in  1860, 
to  730  millions  currency  in  1870  ;  or,  in  one  decade,  from  less 
than  $5  per  head  to  more  than  $18  per  head. 

Since  the  peace,  the  people  have  paid  to  their  tax-gatherers 
more  than  thrice  the  sum  of  the  national  debt,  and  more  than 
twice  that  sum  for  the  Federal  Government  alone. 

We  demand  a  rigorous  frugality  in  every  department,  and 
from  every  officer  of  the  Government. 

THE   PEOFLIGATE   WASTE    OF   PUBLIC   LANDS. 

Reform  is  necessary  to  put  a  stop  to  the  profligate  waste 
of  public  lands  and  their  diversion  from  actual  settlers  by  the 
party  in  power,  which  has  squandered  200  millions  of  acres 
upon  railroads  alone,  and  out  of  more  than  thrice  that  aggre 
gate  has  disposed  of  less  than  a  sixth  directly  to  tillers  of  the 
soil. 

THE    SHIELD    OF    AMERICAN    CITIZENSHIP. 

Reform  is  necessary  to  correct  the  omissions  of  a  Republi 
can  Congress,  and  the  errors  of  our  treaties  and  our  diplomacy 


332  THE  LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

which  have  stripped  our  fellow-citizens  of  foreign  birth  and 
kindred  race,  recrossing  the  Atlantic,  of  the  shield  of  Ameri 
can  citizenship,  and  have  exposed  our  brethren  of  the  Pacific 
coast  to  the  incursions  of  a  race  not  sprung  from  the  same 
great  parent  stock,  and  in  fact  now  by  law  denied  citizenship 
through  naturalization  as  being  neither  accustomed  to  the 
traditions  of  a  progressive  civilization  nor  exercised  in  liberty 
under  equal  laws. 

We  denounce  the  policy  which  thus  discards  the  liberty- 
loving  German  and  tolerates  the  revival  of  the  coolie  trade  in 
Mongolian  women  imported  for  immoral  purposes,  and  Mon 
golian  men  hired  to  perform  servile-labor  contracts,  and  de 
mand  such  a  modification  of  the  treaty  with  the  Chinese 
empire,  or  such  legislation  by  Congress  within  constitutional 
limitations,  as  shall  prevent  the  further  importation  or  immi 
gration  of  the  Mongolian  race. 

SECTARIAN    STRIFE    AND    SECTIONAL   HATE. 

•  Reform  is  necessary  and  can  never  be  effected  but  by 
making  it  the  controlling  issue  of  the  elections,  and  lifting  it 
above  the  two  false  issues  with  which  the  office-holding  class 
and  the  party  in  power  s-eek  to  smother  it — 

1.  The  false  issue  with  which  they  would  enkindle  sec 
tarian  strife  in  respect  to  the  public  schools,  of  which  the  es 
tablishment  and   support  belong  exclusively   to  the  several 
States,  and  which  the  Democratic  party  has  cherished  from 
their  foundation,  and  is  resolved  to  maintain  without  preju 
dice  or  preference  for  any  class,  sect,  or  creed,  and  without 
contributions  from  the  Treasury  to  any. 

2.  The  false  issue  by  which  they  seek  to  light  anew  the 
dying  embers  of  hate  between  kindred  peoples  once  estranged, 
but  now  reunited  in  one  indivisible  republic  and  a  common 
destiny. 

CIVIL   SERVICE. 

Reform  is   necessary   in  the   civil  service.      Experience 
proves  that  efficient,  economical  conduct  of  the  governmental 


THE   ST.   LOUIS   CONVENTION.  333 

business  is  not  possible  if  its  civil  service  be  subject  to  change 
at  every  election,  be  a  prize  fought  for  at  the  ballot-box,  be  a 
brief  reward  of  party  zeal,  instead  of  posts  of  honor  assigned 
for  proved  competency,  and  held  for  fidelity  in  the  public 
employ ;  that  the  dispensing  of  patronage  should  neither  be 
a  tax  upon  the  time  of  all  our  public  men,  nor  the  instrument 
of  their  ambition.  Here,  again,  promises  falsified  in  the  per 
formance  attest  that  the  party  in  power  can  work  out  no 
practical  or  salutary  reform. 

OFFICIAL   CRIMES    AND   MISDEMEANOKS. 

Reform  is  necessary  even  more  in  the  higher  grades  of 
the  public  service.  President,  Vice-President,.  Judges,  Sena 
tors,  Representatives,  cabinet  officers,  these  and  all  others  in 
authority  are  the  people's  servants.  Their  offices  are  not  a 
private  perquisite  ;  they  are  a  public  trust. 

When  the  annals  of  this  republic  show  the  disgrace  and 
censure  of  a  Vice-President ; 

A  late  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives  marketing 
his  rulings  as  a  presiding  officer  ; 

Three  Senators  profiting  secretly  by  their  votes  as  law 
makers  ; 

Five  chairmen  of  the  leading  committees  of  the  late  House 
of  Representatives  exposed  in  jobbery  ; 

A  late  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  forcing  balances  in  the 
public  accounts ; 

A  late  Attorney-General  misappropriating  public  funds  ; 

A  Secretary  of  the  Navy  enriched  or  enriching  friends,  by 
percentages  levied  off  the  profits  of  contracts  with  his  depart 
ment  ; 

An  embassador  to  England  censured  in  a  dishonorable 
speculation  ; 

The  President's  private  secretary  barely  escaping  con 
viction  upon  trial  for  guilty  complicity  in  frauds  upon  the 
revenue ;  . 


334  THE   LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

A  Secretary  of  War  impeached  for  high  crimes  and  mis 
demeanors— 

The  demonstration  is  complete,  that  the  first  step  in  reform 
must  be  the  people's  choice  of  honest  men  from  another  party, 
lest  the  disease  of  one  political  organization  infect  the  body 
politic,  and  lest  by  making  no  change  of  men  or  parties  we 
get  no  change  of  measures  and  no  real  reform. 

REPUBLICAN   EEFOBM   IMPOSSIBLE. 

All  these  abuses,  wrongs,  and  crimes,  the  product  of  six 
teen  years'  ascendency  of  the  Republican  party,  create  a 
necessity  for  reform  confessed  by  the  Republicans  themselves ; 
but  their  reformers  are  voted  down  in  convention  and  dis 
placed  from  the  cabinet.  The  party's  mass  of  honest  voters 
is  powerless  to  resist  the  eighty  thousand  office-holders,  its 
leaders  and  guides. 

A   CIVIC   EEVOLUTION   NECESSAEY. 

Reform  can  only  be  had  by  a  peaceful  civic  revolution. 
We  demand  a  change  of  system,  a  change  of  Administra 
tion,  a  change  of  parties,  that  we  may  have  A  CHANGE  OF 

MEASUEES  AND  OF  MEN. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

SPEECH      OF     ACCEPTANCE. 

ON  the  evening  of  the  llth  of  July,  the  committee  ap 
pointed  by  the  Democratic  National  Convention  waited  upon 
Governor  Tilden,  at  his  residence  in  New  York  City,  to 
officially  inform  him  of  his  nomination.  General  McClernand 
addressed  the  Governor,  and  outlined  the  work  of  the  con 
vention.  He  said  : 

It  was  august  in  character,  patriotic  in  sentiment,  and  met  at  a 
time  when  the  civil  authority  was  exposed  to  fresh  encroachments 
from  the  military ;  when  hard  money  was  dishonored  and  virtually 
banished  from  circulation  by  vicious  legislation ;  when  peculation 
and  corruption  were  sapping  the  foundations  of  the  Government. 
The  convention  determined  to  save  the  country,  and  chose  for  stand 
ard-bearers  tried,  true,  and  trusted  rnen. 

General  McClernand  then  read  the  address  of  the  com 
mittee,  conveying  official  information  of  the  nomination  of 
Governor  Tilden,  as  follows  : 

ADDKESS   OF   THE   COMMITTEE. 

NEW  YORK  CITY,  July  11, 1876. 
Governor  SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

SIK  :  The  undersigned,  a  committee  of  the  National  Democratic 
Convention,  which  met  at  the  city  of  St.  Louis,.  Missouri,  on  the  27th 
ultimo,  consisting  of  its  president  and  of  one  delegate  from  each 
State  of  the  Federal  Union,  have  been  intrusted  with  the  pleasant 
duty  of  waiting  upon  and  informing  you  of  your  nomination  .by  that 
body  as  the  candidate  of  the  Democratic  party  for  the  presidency  of 
the  United  States  at  the  ensuing  election. 

It  is  a  source  of  great  satisfaction  to  us,  who  but  reflect  the  opin- 


336  THE  LIFE   OF   SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

ions  of  the  members  of  the  convention,  that  a  gentleman  entertaining 
and  boldly  advancing  as  you  do,  and  have  done,  those  great  measures 
of  national  and  State  reform  which  are  an  absolute  necessity  for  the 
restoration  of  the  national  honor,  prosperity,  and  credit,  should  have 
been  selected  as  our  standard-bearer  in  the  approaching  contest. 
Your  name  is  identified  with  the  all-absorbing  question  of  reform, 
reduction  of  taxes,  and  the  maintenance  of  the  rights  of  the  laboring 
masses.  The  Democracy,  in  designating  you  as  their  chosen  leader, 
do  not  feel  that  they  are  relying  merely  upon  your  pledges  or  prom 
ises  of  what  you  will  do  in  the  event  of  your  election ;  your  record 
of  the  past  is  our  guarantee  of  your  future  course.  "  Having  been 
faithful  over  a  few  things,  we  will  make  you  a  ruler  over  many 
things." 

Accompanying  this  letter  of  notification,  we  also  present  you  with 
the  declaration  of  principles  adopted  by  the  convention.  We  have 
no  doubt  that  you  will  recognize  in  this  declaration  measures  of  po 
litical  policy  which  immediately  concern  the  happiness  and  welfare 
of  the  entire  people  of  this  country,  and  we  feel  that  your  election 
to  the  presidency  will  be  a  guarantee  of  their  success,  and  it  will  be 
as  much  your  pleasure  to  enforce  and  maintain  them,  if  elected,  as  it 
is  ours  to  give  them  the  stamp  of  national  representative  approbation 
and  approval  in  their  adoption.  Entertaining  the  hope  that  you  will 
signify  to  us  your  acceptance  of  the  nomination  which  we  have  ten 
dered  you,  and  that  you  concur  with  the  convention  in  their  declara 
tion  of  principle,  we  are,  dear  sir,  your  very  obedient  servants, 
Signed  by 

JOHN  A.  McCLEENAND,   Chairman, 
and  all  the  members  of  the  National  Committee. 

General  McClernand  was  followed  by  Hon.  W.  B.  Hanna, 
of  Indiana,  who  spoke  eloquently  in  behalf  of  the  Demo 
cratic  party  of  his  State,  pledging  the  united,  entire,  and 
hearty  support  of  Indiana  to  Tilden  and  Hendricks. 

GOVEENOR  TILDEN'S  EEPLY. 
The  following  reply  was  then  made  by  Governor  Tilden  : 

GENERAL  MCCLEBNAND  AND  GENTLEMEN  -OF  THE  COMMITTEE  :  I 
shall,  at  my  earliest  convenience,  prepare  and  transmit  to  you  a  for 
mal  acceptance  of  the  nomination  which  you  now  tender  to  me  in 


SPEECH   OF  ACCEPTANCE.  337 

behalf  of  the  Democratic  National  Convention,  and  I  do  not  desire 
on  this  occasion  to  anticipate  any  topic  which  might  he  appropriate 
to  that  communication.     It  may,  however,  be  permitted  to  me  to  say 
that  my  nomination  was  not  a  mere  personal  preference  between  citi 
zens  and  statesmen  of  this  republic  who  might  very  well  have  been 
chosen  for  so  distinguished  an  honor,  and  for  so  august  a  duty.     It 
was  rather  a~  declaration  of  that  august  body,  in  whose  behalf  you 
speak,  in  favor  of   administrative  reform,  with  which  events  had 
associated  me  in  the  public  mind.     The  strength,  the  universality, 
and  the  efficiency  of  the  demand  for  administrative  reform  in  all  gov 
ernments,  and  especially  in  the  administration  of  the  Federal  Govern 
ment,  with  which  the  Democratic  masses  everywhere  we're  instinct, 
have  led  to  a  series  of  surprises  in  the  popular  assemblages,  and  per 
haps  in  the  convention  itself.     It  would  be  unnatural,  gentlemen,  if 
a  popular  movement,  so  genuine  and  so  powerful,  should  stop  with 
three  million  five  hundred  thousand  Democrats ;  that  it  should  not 
extend  by  contagion  to  that  large  mass  of  independent  voters  who 
stand  between  parties  in  our  country,  and  even  to  a  moderate  portion 
of  the  party  under  whose  administration  the  evils  to  be  corrected 
have  grown  up.     And,  perhaps,  in  what  we  have  witnessed  there 
may  be  an  augury  in  respect  to  what  we  may  witness  in  the  election 
about  to  take  place  throughout  our  country;  at  least  let  us  hope  so 
and  believe  so.     I  am  not  without  experience  of  the  difficulty  and  the 
labor  of  effecting  administrative  reform  when  it  requires  a  revolution 
in  policies  and  in  measures  long  established  in  government.     If  I  were 
to  judge  in  the  year  and  a  half  in  which  I  have  been  in  the  State 
government,  I  should  say  that  the  routine  duties  of  the  trust  I  have 
had  imposed  on  me  are  a  small  burden  compared  with  that  created  by 
the  attempt  to  change  the  policy  of  the  government  of  which  I  have 
been  the  Executive  head.     Especially  is  this  so  where  the  reform  is  to 
be  worked  out  with  more  or  less  of  the  cooperation  of  public  officers, 
who  either  have  been  tainted  with  the  evils  to  be  redressed,  or  who 
have  been  incapacitated  by  habit,  or  toleration  of  the  wrongs  to  be 
corrected,  to  which  they  have  been  consenting  witnesses.     I,  there 
fore,  if  your  choice  should  be  ratified  by  the  people  at  the  election, 
should  enter  upon  the  great  duties  which  would  fall  upon  me  not  as 
a  holiday  recreation,  but  very  much  in  that  spirit  of  consecration 
in  which  the  soldier  enters  battle.     [Applause.]     But  let  us  believe, 
as  I  do  believe,  that  we  now  see  the  dawn  of  a  better  day  for  our 
country,  and  that,  difficult  as  is  the  work  to  which  the  Democratic 
15 


338  THE  LIFE   OF  SAMUEL   J.  TILDEN. 

party,  with  many  of  the  ajlies  and  former  members  of  other  parties, 
has  addressed  itself,  the  republic  is  yet  to  be  renovated,  to  live  in  all 
the  future,  and  to  be  transmitted  to  future  generations,  as  Jefferson 
contributed  to  form  it  in  his  day,  and  which  it  has  been  ever  since, 
until  a  recent  period,  a  blessing  to  the  whole  people.  [Applause.] 
Gentlemen,  I  thank  you  for  the  very  kind  terms  in  which  you  have 
made  your  communication,  and  I  extend  to  you  collectively  and  indi 
vidually  a  most  cordial  greeting. 

This  brief  speech  of  Governor  Tilden  produced  a  marked 
effect  upon  the  minds  of  very  many  who  read  it.  It  was  so 
earnest,  and  even  solemn  in  its  tone,  and  yet  so  full  of  faith 
and  high  hope,  that  it  was  read  and  reread  all  over  the  coun 
try.  But  in  these  swift  times  it  is  demanded  that  one  event 
shall  follow  another  with  rapidity.  After  the  speech  was 
digested,  Governor  Tilden's  letter  of  acceptance  was  called 
for.  He  took  his  time  in  responding  to  this  call.  More 
than  a  month  elapsed  after  the  convention  adjourned  before 
the  letter  appeared.  But  when  it  appeared  its  perusal 
rewarded  those  who  had  waited.  It  is  submitted  without 
comment  in  the  following  chapter. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

GOVERNOR  TILDEN'S  LETTER  OF  ACCEPTANCE. 

ALBANY,  July  31,  1876. 

GENTLEMEN  :  When  I  had  the  honor  to  receive  a  personal 
delivery  of  your  letter  on  behalf  of  the  Democratic  National 
Convention,  held  on  the  28th  of  June  at  St.  Louis,  advising 
me  of  my  nomination  as  the  candidate  of  the  constituency 
represented  by  that  body  for  the  office  of  President  of  the 
United  States,  I  answered  that  at  my  earliest  convenience, 
and  in  conformity  with  usage,  I  would  prepare  and  transmit 
to  you  a  formal  acceptance.  I  now  avail  myself  of  the  first 
interval  in  unavoidable  occupations  to  fulfill  that  engage 
ment. 

The  convention,  before  making  its  nominations,  adopted 
a  declaration  of  principles,  which,  as  a  whole,  seems  to  me  a 
wise  exposition  of  the  necessities  of  our  country,  and  of  the 
reforms  needed  to  bring  back  the  Government  to  its  true 
functions,  to  restore  purity  of  administration,  and  to  renew 
the  prosperity  of  the  people.  But  some  of  these  reforms  are 
so  urgent  that  they  claim  more  than  a  passing  approval. 

The  necessity  of  a  reform  "  in  the  scale  of  public  expense 
—Federal,  State,  and  municipal — "  and  "  in  the  modes  of 
Federal  taxation,"  justifies  all  the  prominence  given  to  it  in 
the  declaration  of  the  St.  Louis  Convention. 

NATIONAL  EXPENSES  TOO  GKEAT. 

The  present  depression  in  all  the  business  and  industries 
of  the  people,  which  is  depriving  labor  of  its  employment  and 
carrying  want  into  so  many  homes,  has  its  principal  cause  in 
excessive  governmental  consumption.  Under  the  illusions  of 


340  THE  LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.   TILDEN. 

a  specious  prosperity  engendered  by  the  false  policies  of  the 
Federal  Government,  'a  waste  of  capital  has  been  going  on 
ever  since  the  peace  of  1865,  which  could  only  end  in  uni 
versal  disaster.  The  Federal  taxes  of  the  last  eleven  years 
reach  the  gigantic  sum  of  $4,500,000,000.  Local  taxation  has 
amounted  to  two-thirds  as  much  more.  The  vast  aggregate 
is  not  less  than  $7,500,000,000.  This  enormous  taxation  fol 
lowed  a  civil  conflict  that  had  greatly  impaired  our  aggregate 
wealth,  and  had  made  a  prompt  reduction  of  expenses  indis 
pensable. 

It  was  aggravated  by  most  unscientific  and  ill-adjusted 
methods  of  taxation  that  increased  the  sacrifices  of  the  people 
far  beyond  the  receipts  of  the  Treasury.  It  was  aggravated, 
moreover,  by  a  financial  policy  which  tended  to  diminish  the 
energy,  skill,  and  economy  of  production,  and  the  frugality  of 
private  consumption,  and  induced  miscalculation  in  business, 
and  an  unremunerative  use  of  capital  and  labor. 

Even  in  prosperous  times  the  daily  wants  of  industrious 
communities  press  closely  upon  their  daily  earnings.  The 
margin  of  possible  national  savings  is  at  best  a  small  percent 
age  of  national  earnings.  Yet  now  for  these  eleven  years 
governmental  consumption  has  been  a  larger  portion  of  the 
national  earnings  than  the  whole  people  can  possibly  save 
even  in  prosperous  times  for  all  new  investments. 

The  consequences  of  these  errors  are  now  a  present  public 
calamity.  But  they  were  never  doubtful,  never  invisible. 
They  were  necessary  and  inevitable,  and  were  foreseen  and 
depicted  when  the  waves  of  that  fictitious  prosperity  ran 
highest.  In  a  speech  made  by  me  on  the  24th  of  September, 
1868,  it  was  said  of  these  taxes  : 

"  They  bear  heavily  upon  every  man's  income,  upon  every 
industry  and  every  business  in  the  country,  and  year  by  year 
they  are  destined  to  press  still  more  heavily,  unless  we  arrest 
the  system  that  gives  rise  to  them.  It  was  comparatively 
easy  when  values  were  doubling  under  repeated  issues  of  legal- 
tender  paper-money,  to  pay  out  of  the  froth  of  our  growing 
and  apparent  wealth  these  taxes,  but  when  values  recede  and 


GOVERNOR  TILDEN'S  LETTER  OF  ACCEPTANCE.        341 

sink  toward  their  natural  scale,  the  tax-gatherer  takes  from 
us  not  only  our  income,  not  only  our  profits,  but  also  a  portion 
of  our  capital.  ...  I  do  not  wish  to  exaggerate  or  alarm ;  I 
simply  say  that  we  cannot  afford  the  costly  and  ruinous  policy 
of  the  radical  majority  of  Congress.  We  cannot  afford  that 
policy  toward  the  South.  We  cannot  afford  the  magnificent 
and  oppressive  centralism  into  which  our  Government  is  being 
converted.  We  cannot  afford  the  present  magnificent  scale 
of  taxation." 

To  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  I  said  early  in  1865 : 

"  There  is  no  royal  road  for  a  government  more  than  for  an 
individual  or  a  corporation.  What  you  want  to  do  now  is  to 
cut  down  your  expenses  and  live  within  your  income.  I  would 
give  all  the  legerdemain  of  finance  and  financeering,  I  would 
give  the  whole  of  it  for  the  old,  homely  maxim,  '  Live  within 
your  income.' ': 

EEFOEM   IN    APPEOPEIATIOXS. 

This  reform  will  be  resisted  at  every  step,  but  it  must  be 
pressed  persistently.  We  see  to-day  the  immediate  represent 
atives  of  the  people  in  one  branch  of  Congress,  while  strug 
gling  to  reduce  expenditures,  compelled  to  confront  the  men 
ace  of  the  Senate  and  the  Executive,  that,  unless  the  objec 
tionable  appropriations  be  consented  to,  the  operations  of  the 
Government  thereunder  shall  suffer  detriment  or  cease.  In 
my  judgment,  an  amendment  of  the  Constitution  ought  to  be 
devised  separating  in  distinct  bills  the  appropriations  for  the 
various  departments  of  the  public  service,  and  excluding  from 
each  bill  all  appropriations  for  other  objects,  and  all  inde 
pendent  legislation.  In  that  way  alone  can  the  revisory 
power  of  each  of  the  two  Houses  and  of  the  Executive  be 
preserved  and  exempted  from  the  moral  duress  which  often 
compels  assent  to  objectionable  appropriations  rather  than 
stop  the  wheels  of  the  Government. 

MISGOVEENMENT   IN   THE   SOUTH. 

An  accessory  cause  enhancing  the  distress  in  business  is 
to  be  found  in  the  systematic  and  insupportable  misgovern- 


342  THE   LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

ment  imposed  on  the  States  of  the  South.  Besides  the  ordi 
nary  effects  of  ignorant  and  dishonest  administration,  it  has 
inflicted  upon  them  enormous  issues  of  fraudulent  bonds,  the 
scanty  avails  of  which  were  wasted  or  stolen,  and  the  exist 
ence  of  which  is  a  public  discredit,  tending  to  bankruptcy  or 
repudiation.  Taxes,  generally  oppressive,  in  some  instances 
have  confiscated  the  entire  income  of  property,  and  totally 
destroyed  its  marketable  value.  It  is  impossible  that  these 
evils  should  not  react  upon  the  prosperity  of  the  whole 
country. 

The  nobler  motives  of  humanity  concur  with  the  material 
interests  of  all  in  requiring  that  every  obstacle  be  removed  to 
a  complete  and  durable  reconciliation  between  kindred  popu 
lations  once  unnaturally  estranged,  on  the  basis  recognized 
by  the  St.  Louis  platform,  of  the  "  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  with  its  amendments  universally  accepted  as  a  final 
settlement  of  the  controversies  which  engendered  civil  war." 

But,  in  aid  of  a  result  so  beneficent,  the  moral  influence 
of  every  good  citizen,  as  well  as  every  governmental  authori 
ty,  ought  to  be  exerted,  not  alone  to  maintain  their  just 
equality  before  the  law,  but  likewise  to  establish  a  cordial 
fraternity  and  good-will  among  citizens,  whatever  their  race 
or  color,  who  are  now  united  in  the  one  destiny  of  a  common 
self-government.  If  the  duty  shall  be  assigned  to  me,  I 
should  not  fail  to  exercise  the  powers  with  which  the  laws 
and  the  Constitution  of  our  country  clothe  its  chief  magistrate 
to  protect  all  its  citizens,  whatever  their  former  condition  in 
every  political  and  personal  right. 

SPECIE   PAYMENTS. 

"  Reform  is  necessary,"  declares  the  St.  Louis  Convention, 
"  to  establish  a  sound  currency,  restore  the  public  credit,  and 
maintain  the  national  honor ;  "  and  it  goes  on  to  "  demand  a 
judicious  system  of  preparation  by  public  economies,  by  official 
retrenchments,  and  by  wise  finance,  which  will  enable  the  na 
tion  soon  to  assure  the  whole  world  of  its  perfect  ability  and 


GOVERNOR  TILDEN'S  LETTER  OF  ACCEPTANCE.        343 

its  perfect  readiness  to  meet  any  of  its  promises  at  the  call 
of  the  creditor  entitled  to  payment." 

The  object  demanded  by  the  convention  is  a  resumption 
of  specie  payments  on  the  legal-tender  notes  of  the  United 
States.  That  would  not  only  "  restore  the  public  credit " 
and  "maintain  the  national  honor,"  but  it  would  "  establish 
a  sound  currency  "  for  the  people.  The  methods  by  which 
this  object  is  to  be  pursued  and  the  means  by  which  it  is  to 
be  attained  are  disclosed  by  what  the  convention  demanded 
for  the  future  and  by  what  it  denounced  in  the  past. 

BANK-NOTE   EESUMPTION. 

Resumption  of  specie  payments  by  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  on  its  legal-tender  notes  would  establish  specie 
payments  by  all  the  banks  on  all  their  notes.  The  official 
statement,  made  on  the  12th  of  May,  shows  that  the  amount 
of  the  bank-notes  was  $300,000,000,  less  $20,000,000  held  by 
themselves.  Against  these  $280,000,000  of  notes  the  banks 
held  $141,000,000  of  legal-tender  notes,  or  a  little  more  than 
fifty  per  cent,  of  their  amount.  But  they  also  held  on  de 
posit  in  the  Federal  Treasury,  as  security  for  these  notes, 
bonds  of  the  United  States  worth  in  gold  about  $360,000,000, 
available  and  current  in  all  the  foreign  money-markets.  In 
resuming,  the  banks,  even  if  it  were  possible  for  all  their 
notes  to  be  presented  for  payment,  would  have  $500,000,000 
of  specie  funds  to  pay  $280,000,000  of  notes,  without  con 
tracting  their  loans  to  their  customers,  or  calling  on  any  pri 
vate  debtor  for  payment.  Suspended  banks  undertaking  to 
resume  have  usually  been  obliged  to  collect  from  needy  bor 
rowers  the  means  to  redeem  excessive  issues,  and  to  provide 
reserves.  A  vague  idea  of  distress  is,  therefore,  often  asso 
ciated  with  the  process  of  resumption.  But  the  conditions 
which  caused  distress  in  those  former  instances  do  not  now 
exist.  The  Government  has  only  to  make  good  its  own 
promises,  and  the  banks  can  take  care  of  themselves  without 
distressing  anybody.  The  Government  is,  therefore,  the  sole 
delinquent. 


344  THE   LIFE   OF  SAMUEL   J.   TILDEN. 

LEGAL-TENDEB   EESUMPTION. 

The  amount  of  legal-tender  notes  of  the  United  States 
now  outstanding  is  less  than  $370,000,000,  besides  $34,000,000 
of  fractional  currency.  How  shall  the  Government  make 
these  notes  at  all  times  as  good  as  specie  ?  It  has  to  provide, 
in  reference  to  the  mass  which  would  be  kept  in  use  by  the 
wants  of  business,  a  central  reservoir  of  coin,  adequate  to  the 
adjustment  of  the  temporary  fluctuations  of  international  bal 
ances,  and  as  a  guarantee  against  transient  drains  artificially 
created  by  panic  or  by  speculation.  It  has  also  to  provide 
for  the  payment  in  coin  of  such  fractional  currency  as  may  be 
presented  for  redemption,  and  such  inconsiderable  portions  of 
the  legal  tenders  as  individuals  may,  from  time  to  time,  desire 
to  convert  for  special  use,  or  in  order  to  lay  by  in  coin  their 
little  stores  of  money. 

KESUMPTION  NOT   DIFFICULT. 

To  make  the  coin  in  the  Treasury  available  for  the  objects 
of  this  reserve,  to  gradually  strengthen  and  enlarge  that  re 
serve,  and  to  provide  for  such  other  exceptional  demands  for 
coin  as  may  arise,  does  not  seem  to  me  a  work  of  difficulty. 
If  wisely  planned  and  discreetly  pursued,  it  ought  not  to  cost 
any  sacrifice  to  the  business  of  the  country.  It  should  tend, 
on  the  contrary,  to  a  revival  of  hope  and  confidence.  The 
coin  in  the  Treasury  on  the  30th  of  June,  including  what  is 
held  against  coin  certificates,  amounted  to  nearly  $74,000,000. 
The  current  of  precious  metals  which  has  flowed  out  of  our 
country  for  the  eleven  years  from  July  1,  1865,  to  June  30, 
1876,  averaging  nearly  $76,000,000  a  year,  was  $832,000,000 
in  the  whole  period,  of  which  $617,000,000  was  the  product 
of  our  own  mines.  To  amass  the  requisite  quantitj7,  by  inter 
cepting  from  the  current  flowing  out  of  the  country,  and  by 
acquiring  from  the  stocks  which  exist  abroad  without  disturb 
ing  the  equilibrium  of  foreign  money-markets,  is  a  result  to 
be  easily  worked  out  by  practical  knowledge  and  judgment. 


GOVERNOR  TILDEN'S  LETTER  OF  ACCEPTANCE.        345 

With  respect  to  whatever  surplus  of  legal  tenders  the 
wants  of  business  may  fail  to  keep  in  use,  and  which,  in  order 
to  save  interest,  will  be  returned  for  redemption,  they  can 
either  be  paid  or  they  can  be  funded.  Whether  they  continue 
as  currency,  or  be  absorbed  into  the  vast  mass  of  securities 
held  as  investments,  is  merely  a  question  of  the  rate  of  inter 
est  they  draw.  Even  if  they  were  to  remain  in  their  present 
form,  and  the  Government  were  to  agree  to  pay  on  them  a 
rate  of  interest  making  them  desirable  as  investments,  they 
would  cease  to  circulate  and  take  their  place  with  Govern 
ment,  State,  municipal,  and  other  corporate  and  private  bonds, 
of  which  thousands  of  millions  exist  among  us.  In  the  per 
fect  ease  with  which  they  can  be  changed  from  currency  into 
investments  lies  the  only  danger  to  be  guarded  against  in  the 
adoption  of  general  measures  intended  to  remove  a  clearly- 
ascertained  surplus,  that  is,  the  withdrawal  of  any  which  are 
not  a  permanent  excess  beyond  the  wants  of  business. 

Even  more  mischievous  would  be  any  measure  which  af 
fects  the  public  imagination  with  the  fear  of  an  apprehended 
scarcity.  In  a  community  where  credit  is  so  much  used,  fluc 
tuations  of  values  and  vicissitudes  in  business  are  largely 
caused  by  the  temporary  beliefs  of  men  even  before  those  be 
liefs  can  conform  to  ascertained  realities. 

THE    WANTS    OF    TEADE. 

The  amount  of  the  necessary  currency,  at  a  given  time, 
cannot  be  determined  arbitrarily,  and  should  not  be  assumed 
on  conjecture.  The  amount  is  subject  to  both  permanent  and 
temporary  changes.  An  enlargement  of  it,  which  seemed  to 
be  durable,  happened  at  the  beginning  of  the  civil  war  by  a 
substituted  use  of  currency  in  place  of  individual  credits.  It 
varies  with  certain  states  of  business.  It  fluctuates,  with  con 
siderable  regularity,  at  different  seasons  of  the  year.  In  the 
autumn,  for  instance,  when  buyers  of  grain  and  other  agricult 
ural  products  begin  their  operations,  they  usually  need  to 
borrow  capital  or  circulating  credits  by  which  to  make  their 


346  THE  LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

purchases,  and  want  these  funds  in  currency  capable  of  being 
distributed  in  small  sums  among  numerous  sellers.  The  addi 
tional  need  of  currency  at  such  times  is  five  or  more  per  cent, 
of  the  whole  volume,  and,  if  a  surplus  beyond  what  is  required 
for  ordinary  use  does  not  happen  to  have  been  on  hand  at  the 
money  centres,  a  scarcity  of  currency  ensues,  and  also  .a  strin 
gency  in  the  loan-market. 

It  was  in  reference  to  such  experiences  that,  in  a  discus 
sion  of  this  subject,  in  my  annual  message  to  the  New  York 
Legislature  of  January  5,  1875,  the  suggestion  was  made 
that— 

"  The  Federal  Government  is  bound  to  redeem  every  por 
tion  of  its  issues  which  the  public  do  not  wish  to  use.  Hav 
ing  assumed  to  monopolize  the  supply  of  currency  and  enact 
ed  exclusions  against  everybody  else,  it  is  bound  to  furnish  all 
which  the  wants  of  business 'require.  .  .  .  The  system  should 
passively  allow  the  volume  of  circulating  credits  to  ebb  and 
flow,  according  to  the  ever-changing  wants  of  business.  It 
should  imitate,  as  closely  as  possible,  the  natural  laws  of 
trade,  which  it  has  superseded  by  artificial  contrivances." 

And  in  a  similar  discussion  in  my  message  of  January  4, 
1876,  it  was  said  that  resumption  should  be  effected  "by  such 
measures  as  would  keep  the  aggregate  amount  of  the  currency 
self-adjusting  during  all  the  process,  without  creating  at  any 
time  an  artificial  scarcity,  and  without  exciting  the  public 
imagination  with  alarms  which  impair  confidence,  contract  the 
whole  large  machinery  of  credit,  and  disturb  the  natural  op 
erations  of  business." 

THE   EOAD    TO    EESUMPTION. 

"  Public  economies,  official  retrenchments,  and  wise  fi 
nance  "  are  the  means  which  the  St.  Louis  Convention  indi 
cates  as  provision  for  reserves  and  redemptions.  The  best 
resource  is  a  reduction  of  the  expenses  of  the  Government 
below  its  income,  for  that  imposes  no  new  charge  on  the  peo 
ple.  If,  however,  the  improvidence  and  waste  which  have 
conducted  us  to  a  period  of  falling  revenues  oblige  us  to  sup- 


GOVERNOR  TILDEN'S  LETTER  OF  ACCEPTANCE.        347 

plement  the  results  of  economies  and  retrenchments  by  some 
resorts  to  loans,  we  should  not  hesitate.  The  Government 
ought  not  to  speculate  on  its  own  dishonor,  in  order  to  save 
interest  on  its  broken  promises,  which  it  still  compels  private 
dealers  to  accept  at  a  fictitious  par.  The  highest  national 
honor  is  not  only  right,  but  would  prove  profitable.  Of  the 
public  debt,  $985,000,000  bear  interest  at  six  percent,  in  gold, 
and  $712,000,000  at  five  per  cent,  in  gold.  The  average  inter 
est  is  5.58  per  cent. 

A  financial  policy  which  should  secure  the  highest  credit, 
wisely  availed  of,  ought  gradually  to  obtain  a  reduction  of 
one  per  cent,  in  the  interest  on  most  of  the  loans.  A  saving 
of  one  per  cent,  on  the  average  would  be  $17,000,000  a  year 
in  gold.  That  saving  regularly  invested  at  four  and  a  half 
per  cent,  would,  in  less  than  thirty-eight  years,  extinguish  the 
principal.  The  whole  $1,700,000,000  of  funded  debt  might  be 
paid  by  this  saving  alone,  without  cost  to  the  people. 

The  proper  time  for  resumption  is  the  time  when  wise 
preparations  shall  have  ripened  into  a  perfect  ability  to  ac 
complish  the  object  with  a  certainty  and  ease  that  will  inspire 
confidence,  and  encourage  the  reviving  of  business.  The 
earliest  time  in  which  such  a  result  can  be  brought  about  is 
the  best.  Even  when  the  preparations  shall  have  been  ma 
tured,  the  exact  date  would  have  to  be  chosen  with  reference 
to  the  then  existing  state  of  trade  and  credit  operations  in 
our  own  country,  the  course  of  foreign  commerce,  and  the 
condition  of  the  exchanges  with  other  nations.  The  specific 
measures  and  the  actual  date  are  matters  of  detail  having 
reference  to  ever-changing  conditions.  They  belong  to  the 
domain  of  practical  administrative  statesmanship.  The  cap 
tain  of  a  steamer  about  starting  from  New  York  to  Liverpool 
does  not  assemble  a  council  over  his  ocean-chart  and  fix  an 
angle  by  which  to  lash  the  rudder  for  the  whole  voyage.  A 
human  intelligence  must  be  at  the  helm  to  discern  the  shift 
ing  forces  of  the  waters  and  the  winds.  A  human  hand  must 
be  on  the  helm  to  feel  the  elements  day  by  day,  and  guide  to 
o,  mastery  over  them. 


348  THE   LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

Such  preparations  are  everything.  Without  them,  a  leg 
islative  command  fixing  a  day,  an  official  promise  fixing  a  day, 
are  shams.  They  are  worse,  they  are  a  snare  and  a  delusion 
to  all  who  trust  them.  They  destroy  all  confidence  among 
thoughtful  men  whose  judgment  will  at  last  sway  public 
opinion.  An  attempt  to  act  on  such  a  command  or  such  a 
promise,  without  preparation,  would  end  in  a  new  suspension. 
It  would  be  a  fresh  calamity,  prolific  of  confusion,  distrust  and 
distress. 

THE   ACT   OF    1875   A   BAEEEN   PEOMISE. 

The  act  of  Congress  of  the  14th  of  January,  1875,  enact 
ed  that  on  and  after  the  1st  of  January,  1879,  the  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury  shall  redeem  in  coin  the  legal-tender  notes 
of  the  United  States  on  presentation  at  the  office  of  the 
Assistant  Treasurer  in  the  city  of  New  York.  It  authorized 
the  Secretary  "  to  prepare  and  provide  for  "  such  resumption 
of  specie  payments  by  the  use  of  any  surplus  revenues  not 
otherwise  appropriated  ;  and  by  issuing,  in  his  discretion, 
certain  classes  of  bonds. 

More  than  one  and  a  half  of  the  four  years  has  passed. 
Congress  and  the  President  have  continued  ever  since  to  unite 
in  acts  which  have  legislated  out  of  existence  every  possible 
surplus  applicable  to  this  purpose.  The  coin  in  the  Treasury 
claimed  to  belong  to  the  Government  had,  on  the  30th  of  June, 
fallen  to  less  than  $45,000,000,  against  $59,000,000  on  the  1st 
of  January,  1875,  and  the  availability  of  a  part  of  that  sum  is 
said  to  be  questionable.  The  revenues  are  falling  faster  than 
appropriations  and  expenditures  are  reduced,  leaving  the 
Treasury  with  diminishing  resources.  The  Secretary  has 
done  nothing  under  his  power  to  issue  bonds. 

The  legislative  command,  the  official  promise  fixing  a  day 
for  resumption  have  thus  far  been  barren.  No  practical 
preparations  toward  resumption  have  been  made.  There  has 
been  no  progress.  There  have  been  steps  backward.  There 
is  no  necromancy  in  the  operations  of  government.  The 


GOVERNOR  TILDEN'S  LETTER  OF  ACCEPTANCE.        349 

homely  maxims  of  every-day  life  are  the  best  standards  of 
its  conduct.  A  debtor  who  should  promise  to  pay  a  loan  out 
of  a  surplus  income,  yet  be  seen  every  day  spending  all  he 
could  lay  his  hands  on  in  riotous  living,  would  lose  all  char 
acter  for  honesty  and  veracity.  His  offer  of  a  new  promise 
or  his  profession  as  to  the  value  of  the  old  promise  would 
alike  provoke  derision. 

The  St.  Louis  platform  denounces  the  failure  for  eleven 
years  to  make  good  the  promise  of  the  legal-tender  notes. 
It  denounces  the  omission  to  accumulate  "  any  reserve  for 
their  redemption."  It  denounces  the  conduct  "  which,  dur 
ing  eleven  years  of  peace,  has  made  no  advances  toward  re 
sumption,  no  preparations  for  resumption,  but  instead  has 
obstructed  resumption  by  wasting  our  resources  and  exhaust 
ing  all  our  surplus  income  ;  and,  while  professing  to  intend  a 
speedy  return  to  specie  payments,  has  annually  enacted  fresh 
hinderances  thereto."  And,  having  first  denounced  the  bar 
renness  of  the  promise  of  a  day  of  resumption,  it  next  de 
nounces  that  barren  promise  as  "a  hinderance  "  to  resump 
tion.  It  then  demands  its  repeal,  and  also  demands  the 
establishment  of  "  a  judicious  system  of  preparation  "  for 
resumption.  It  cannot  be  doubted  that  the  substitution  of 
"  a  system  of  preparation  "  without  the  promise  of  a  day, 
for  the  worthless  promise  of  a  day  without  "  a  system  of 
preparation,"  would  be  the  gain  of  the  substance  of  resump 
tion  in  exchange  for  its  shadow. 

Nor  is  the  denunciation  unmerited  of  that  improvidence 
which,  in  the  eleven  years  since  the  peace,  has  consumed  $4,- 
500,000,000,  and  yet  could  not  afford  to  give  the  people  a 
sound  and  stable  currency.  Two  and  a  half  per  cent,  on  the 
expenditures  of  these  eleven  years,  or  even  less,  would  have 
provided  all  the  additional  coin  needful  to  resumption. 

THE   EVILS    OF   UNCERTAINTY. 

The  distress  now  felt  by  the  people  in  all  their  business 
and  industries,  though  it  has  its  principal  cause  in  the  enor- 


350  THE   LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

mous  waste  of  capital  occasioned  by  the  false  policies  of  our 
Government,  has  been  greatly  aggravated  by  the  mismanage 
ment  of  the  currency.  Uncertainty  is  the  prolific  parent  of 
mischiefs  in  all  business.  Never  were  its  evils  more  felt  than 
now.  Men  do  nothing  because  they  are  unable  to  make  any 
calculations  on  which  they  can  safely  rely.  They  undertake 
nothing  because  they  fear  a  loss  in  everything  they  would 
attempt.  They  stop  and  wait.  The  merchant  dares  not  buy 
for  the  future  consumption  of  his  customers.  The  manufact 
urer  dares  not  make  fabrics  which  may  not  refund  his  outlay. 
He  shuts  his  factory  and  discharges  his  workmen.  Capital 
ists  cannot  lend  on  security  they  consider  safe,  and  their 
funds  lie  almost,  without  interest.  Men  of  enterprise  who 
have  credit,  or  securities  to  pledge,  will  not  borrow.  Con 
sumption  has  fallen  below  the  natural  limits  of  a  reasonable 
economy.  Prices  of  many  things  are  under  their  range  in 
frugal,  specie-paying  times  before  the  civil  war.  Vast  masses 
of  currency  lie  in  the  banks  unused.  A  year  and  a  half  ago 
the  legal  tenders  were  at  their  largest  volume,  and  the  $12,- 
000,000  since  retired  have  been  replaced  by  fresh  issues  of 
$15,000,000  of  bank-notes.  In  the  mean  time  the  banks  have 
been  surrendering  about  $4,000,000  a  month,  because  they 
cannot  find  a  profitable  use  for  so  many  of  their  notes. 

The  public  mind  will  no  longer  accept  shams.  It  has  suf 
fered  enough  from  illusions.  An  insincere  policy  increases 
distrust.  An  unstable  policy  increases  uncertainty.  The 
people  need  to  know  that  the  Government  is  moving  in  the 
direction  of  ultimate  safety  and  prosperity,  and  that  it  is 
doing  so  through  prudent,  safe,  and  conservative  methods, 
which  will  be  sure  to  inflict  no  new  sacrifice  on  the  business 
of  the  country.  Then  the  inspiration  of  new  hope  and  well- 
founded  confidence  will  hasten  the  restoring-  processes  of 
nature,  and  prosperity  will  begin  to  return. 

The  St.  Louis  Convention  concludes  its  expression  in 
regard  to  the  currency  by  a  declaration  of  its  convictions  as 
to  the  practical  results  of  the  system  of  preparations  it  de- 


GOVERNOR  TILDEN'S  LETTER  OF  ACCEPTANCE.        351 

mands.  It  says  :  "  We  believe  such  a  system,  well  devised, 
and,  above  all,  intrusted  to  competent  hands  for  execution, 
creating1  at  no  time  an  artificial  scarcity  of  currency,  and  at 
no  time  alarming1  the  public  mind  into  a  withdrawal  of  that 
vaster  machinery  of  credit  by  which  ninety-five  per  cent,  of 
all  business  transactions  are  performed — a  system  open,  pub 
lic,  and  inspiring  general  confidence — would,  from  the  day  of 
its  adoption,  bring  healing  on  its  wings  to  all  our  harassed 
industries,  set  in  motion  the  wheels  of  commerce,  manufact 
ures,  and  the  mechanic  arts,  restore  employment  to  labor, 
and  renew  in  all  its  natural  sources  the  prosperity  of  the 
people." 

The  Government  of  the  United  States,  in  my  opinion,  can 
advance  to  a  resumption  of  specie  payments  on  its  legal- 
tender  notes  by  gradual  and  safe  processes  tending  to  relieve 
the  present  business  distress.  If  charged  by  the  people  with 
the  administration  of  the  Executive  office,  I  should  deem  it  a 
duty  so  to  exercise  the  powers  with  which  it  has  been  or  may 
be  invested  by  Congress  as  best  and  soonest  to  conduct  the 
country  to  that  beneficent  result. 


A    BAD    CIVIL    SEEVICE. 


The  convention  justly  affirms  that  reform  is  necessary  in 
the  civil  service,  necessary  to  its  purification,  necessary  to  its 
economy  and  efficiency,  necessary  in  order  that  the  ordinary 
employment  of  the  public  business  may  not  be  "  a  prize  fought 
for  at  the  ballot-box,  a  brief  reward  of  party  zeal  instead  of 
posts  of  honor  assigned  for  proved  competency,  and  held  for 
fidelity  in  the  public  employ."  The  convention  wisely  added 
that  "  reform  is  necessary  even  more  in  the  higher  grades 
of  the  public  service.  Presidents,  Vice-Presidents,  judges, 
Senators,  Representatives,  cabinet  officers,  these  and  all 
others  in  authority  are  the  people's  servants.  Their  offices 
are  not  a  private  perquisite  ;  they  are  a  public  trust." 

Two  evils  infest  the  official  service  of  the  Federal  Govern 
ment.  One  is  the  prevalent  and  demoralizing  notion  that  the 


352  THE   LIFE   OF  SAMUE^  J.  TILDEN. 

public  service  exists  not  for  the  business  and  benefit  of  the 
whole  people,  but  for  the  interest  of  the  office-holders,  who 
are  in  truth  but  the  servants  of  the  people.  Under  the  influ 
ence  of  this  pernicious  error  public  employments  have  been 
multiplied  ;  the  numbers  of  those  gathered  into  the  ranks  of 
office-holders  have  been  steadily  increased  beyond  any  possi 
ble  requirement  of  the  public  business,  while  inefficiency, 
peculation,  fraud,  and  malversation  of  the  public  funds,  from 
the  high  places  of  power  to  the  lowest,  have  overspread  the 
whole  service  like  a  leprosy. 

The  other  evil  is  the  organization  of  the  official  class  into 
a  body  of  political  mercenaries,  governing  the  caucuses  and 
dictating  the  nominations  of  their  own  party,  and  attempting 
to  carry  the  elections  of  the  people  by  undue  influence,  and 
by  immense  corruption  funds 'systematically  collected  from 
the  salaries  or  fees  of  office-holders.  The  official  class  in 
other  countries,  sometimes  by  its  own  weight  and  sometimes 
in  alliance  with  the  army,  has  been  able  to  rule  the  unorgan 
ized  masses  even  under  universal  suffrage.  Here,  it  has 
already  grown  into  a  gigantic  power,  capable  of  stifling  the 
inspirations  of  a  sound  public  opinion,  and  of  resisting  an 
easy  change  of  administration,  until  misgovernment  becomes 
intolerable,  and  public  spirit  has  been  stung  to  the  pitch  of  a 
civic  revolution. 

ONE  TEEM,  AND  OTHEE  EEFOEMS. 

The  first  step  in  reform  is  the  elevation  of  the  standard 
by  which  the  appointing  power  selects  agents  to  execute  offi 
cial  trusts.  Next  in  importance  is  a  conscientious  fidelity  in 
the  exercise  of  the  authority  to  hold  to  account  and  displace 
untrustworthy  or  incapable  subordinates.  The  public  interest 
in  an  honest,  skillful  performance  of  official  trust  must  not  be 
sacrificed  to  the  usufruct  of  the  incumbents. 

After  these  immediate  steps,  which  will  insure  the  exhibi 
tion  of  better  examples,  we  may  wisely  go  on  to  the  abolition 
of  unnecessary  offices,  and,  finally,  to  the  patient,  careful  or- 


GOVERNOR  TILDEN'S  LETTER   OF  ACCEPTANCE.        353 

ganization  of  a  better  civil-service  system,  under  the  tests, 
wherever  practicable,  of  proved  competency  and  fidelity. 

While  much  may  be  accomplished  by  these  methods,  it 
might  encourage  delusive  expectations  if  I  withheld  here  the 
expression  of  my  conviction  that  no  reform  of  the  civil  service 
in  this  country  will  be  complete  and  permanent  until  its  chief 
magistrate  is  constitutionally  disqualified  for  reelection,  ex 
perience  having  repeatedly  exposed  the  futility  of  self-im 
posed  restrictions  by  candidates  or  incumbents.  Through 
this  solemnity  only  can  he  be  effectually  delivered  from  his 
greatest  temptation  to  misuse  the  power  and  patronage  with 
which  the  Executive  is  necessarily  charged. 

Educated  in  the  belief  that  it  is  the  first  duty  of  a  citizen 
of  the  republic  to  take  his  fair  allotment  of  care  and  trouble 
in  public  affairs,  I  have  for  forty  years,  as  a  private  citizen, 
fulfilled  that  duty.  Though  occupied  in  an  unusual  degree 
during  all  that  period  with  the  concerns  of  government,  I 
have  never  acquired  the  habit  of  official  life.  When,  a  year 
and  a  half  ago,  I  entered  upon  my  present  trust,  it  was  in 
order  to  consummate  reforms  to  which  I  had  already  devoted 
several  of  the  best  years  of  my  life.  Knowing  as  I  do,  there 
fore,  from  fresh  experience,  how  great  the  difference  is  be 
tween  gliding  through  an  official  routine  and  working  out  a 
reform  of  systems  and  policies,  it  is  impossible  for  me  to  con 
template  what  needs  to  be  done  in  the  Federal  Administration 
without  an  anxious  sense  of  the  difficulties  of  the  undertaking. 
If  summoned  by  the  suffrages  of  my  countrymen  to  attempt 
this  work,  I  shall  endeavor,  with  God's  help,  to  be  the  effi 
cient  instrument  of  their  will. 

SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

To  General  John  A.  McClernand,  Chairman ;  General  W.  B.  Frank 
lin,  the  Hon.  J.  J.  Abbott,  the  Hon.  H.  J.  Spannhorst,  the  Hon. 
H.  J.  Eedfield,  the  Hon.  F.  S.  Lyon,  and  others,  committee,  etc. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 


THE  power  of  the  man  lies  in  his  ability  to  concentrate 
his  mind  upon  his  work.  Where  others  vaporize  he  crystal 
lizes.  The  realm  of  speculative  philosophy  has  no  attraction 
for  him.  He  reduces  statesmanship  to  one  of  the  exact  sci 
ences.  He  treats  a  problem  in  government  as  he  would  a 
problem  in  mathematics  ;  he  takes  all  the  factors,  discovers 
their  relative  value,  and  then  uses  them.  Glittering  gener 
alities  are  his  abhorrence.  Facts  are  his  friends  and  figures 
his  delight. 

Out  of  this  power  of  concentration  spring  two  anomalous 
characteristics — absolute  fearlessness  linked  to  great  caution. 
Nobody  who  knows  Mr.  Tilden  ever  dreamed  of  frightening 
him.  He  is  impervious  to  threats.  He  dislikes  those  who 
take  counsel  of  their  apprehensions.  But  he  never  moves 
till  he  has  provided  against  every  possible  contingency.  He 
vindicates  his  courage  in  his  designs  and  displays  his  caution 
in  the  execution  thereof.  He  did  a  bold  thing  in  the  sum 
mer  of  1875,  when,  as  Governor  of  New  York,  he  promised 
the  people  in  his  speeches  at  Buffalo,  Syracuse,  and  Utica, 
that  their  taxes  should  be  reduced  by  six  million  dollars. 
But  he  did  a  cautious  thing  when  he  fixed  the  sum  at  six 
millions  while  he  was  paving  the  way  for  a  reduction  of  eight 
millions — which  was  effected. 

The  defects  in  his  character  appear  to  be  surface  faults,  but 
they  are  ineradicable  inasmuch  as  they  all  grow  out  of  his  con 
centration  of  mind.  When  he  has  leisure  to  be  agreeable,  few 


A  STUDY   OF  MR.   TILDEN'S  CHARACTER.  355 

men  are  brighter  or  more  sparkling  than  he.  On  rare  occa 
sions  he  gives  rein  to  his  wit  and  his  imagination,  which  are 
the  more  brilliant  perhaps  on  account  of  their  infrequent  use. 
But  when  he  is  busy  he  is  not  companionable.  He  never 
stops  in  his  work  to  utter  the  meaningless  phrases  of  the 
average  politician.  He  cannot  feign  any  delight  at  the  sight 
of  persons  concerning  whom  he  is  indifferent.  But  he  some 
times  wounds  the  sensibilities  of  those  whom  he  really  loves 
if  they  happen  to  approach  him  at  a  time  when  his  mind 
is  occupied  on  a  question  which  absorbs  all  his  power  of 
thought.  They  have  only  to  meet  him  when  the  perplexities 
of  duty  weigh  less  heavily  upon  him,  to  discover  what  social 
resources  he  holds  in  reserve.  When  he  has  finished,  to  his 
own  satisfaction,  any  piece  of  work  on  which  he  has  been 
engaged,  he  is  as  happy  as  a  boy  just  released  from  school. 
The  troubled  look  in  his  eyes  passes  away,  the  wrinkled  brow 
grows  smooth,  and  his  face  beams  with  the  sunshine  of  good 
nature.  This  humor  lasts  till  some  new  problem  demands 
solution,  and  then  to  that  he  surrenders  all  his  powers. 

Mr.  Tilden  is  no  sentimentalist,  but  he  possesses  a  great 
deal  of  sentiment.  Friendship  means  more  to  him  than  to 
the  poets  who  sing  its  praises,  or  to  the  weak  creatures  who 
yearn  for  it  without  understanding  the  possibilities  of  sacrifice 
which  it  involves.  When  he  was  past  forty  years  of  age,  he 
voluntarily  took  upon  himself  pecuniary  obligations  equal  to 
all  the  money  he  had  earned  by  twenty  years  of  laborious  ef 
forts,  that  those  who  were  bound  to  him  by  the  ties  of  rela 
tionship  might  escape  a  threatened  reverse  of  fortune,  and 
that  the  declining  years  of  his  aged  mother  might  be  full  of 
peace  and  free  from  sorrow.  This  is  not  the  place  to  repeat 
the  story  of  his  benefactions  to  others.  My  knowledge  of  his 
generous  deeds  is  not  derived  from  him.  It  is  a  subject 
on  which  he  never  talks,  and  on  which  he  will  not  per 
mit  others  to  talk  in  his  presence.  The  late  Judge  Mar 
tin  Grover,  of  the  New  York  Court  of  Appeals,  who  was 
one  of  the  wisest  jurists  and  closest  observers  of  character 


356  THE   LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 

that  the  country  has  produced,  was  speaking  of  Mr.  Tilden 
one-  day,  long  before  his  nomination  for  Governor,  and  re 
marked  :  "  That  man  has  given  away  more  money,  and  made 
less  fuss  about  it,  than  any  other  man  in  the  State  of  New 
York.  He  doesn't  give  on  any  abstract  theory  of  philan 
thropy,  but  because  his  friends  get  themselves  into  trouble, 
and  he  can't  resist  the  temptation  to  help  'em  out."  Mr.  Til- 
den  was  very  busily  engaged  in  the  preparation  of  a  public 
paper  in  Albany  when  the  report  was  brought  to  him  that 
Charles  O'Conor  was  lying  so  seriously  ill  that  the  hope  of 
his  recovery  had  been  abandoned.  He  did  not  utter  a  word. 
He  dropped  his  pen,  and,  hiding  his  face  from  observation,  he 
sat  for  full  five  minutes  lost  in  deep,  sad  thought.  His  work 
was  not  resumed.  He  journeyed  to  New  York  that  day,  that 
he  might  be  near  to  his  old  friend  in  the  hour  of  his  extremity. 
To  him  no  other  duty  was  so  imperative  as  that  which  sum 
moned  him  to  the  bedside  of  the  man  he  loved.  Fortunately, 
Mr.  O'Conor  recovered.  Mr.  Tilden  returned  to  Albany,  and 
went  to  work.  Those  who  saw  him  grappling  with  the 
finances  of  the  State  in  an  effort  to  reduce  the  taxes,  would 
not  imagine  that  his  abstracted  and  sometimes  petulant  man 
ner  concealed  such  fountains  of  deep  feeling. 

He  is  a  shy  man.  He  does  not  readily  reveal  himself  even 
to  those  who  think  they  have  known  him  for  years.  His  oc 
casional  efforts  to  appear  wholly  at  his  ease  in  the  presence 
of  strangers  are  amusing  rather  than  successful.  It  is  almost 
impossible  to  sound  the  depths  of  his  nature.  His  intellectual 
resources  are  inexhaustible.  But  his  shyness — his  unwilling 
ness  to  make  any  display  either  of  his  learning  or  his  wisdom 
— makes  him  appear  commonplace  enough  to  many  who  see 
him  for  the  first  time.  He  has  lived  in  New  York  City  for 
forty  years,  mingling  in  the  best  society  of  the  metropolis  ;  but 
the  manner  of  the  student  is  upon  him  still.  The  great  prob 
lem  which  he  seeks  to  solve,  the  hard  lessons  which  he  has 
set  himself  to  learn — the  problems  which  have  eluded  the  ef 
forts  of  other  statesmen,  the  lessons  which  must  be  rightly 


A  STUDY   OF  MR.   TILDEN'S  CHARACTER.  357 

read,  if  the  welfare  of  the  people  is  to  be  preserved,  will  en 
gage  his  attention  while  he  lives. 

His  home-life  is  comfortable  and  pleasant.  His  house 
in  New  York,  in  Gramercy  Square,  is  a  large  brown-stone 
front,  the  lot  extending  back  to  the  next  street.  It  is  sub 
stantially  furnished,  contains  a  vast  number  of  books,  a  few 
good  pieces  of  statuary,  and  plenty  of  pictures.  But  the  first 
thing  that  strikes  the  visitor  is  the  absolute  freedom  from 
ostentatious  display.  All  that  refined  taste  can  suggest  is 
there ;  but  refined  taste  is  severe  in  its  simplicity.  Mr.  Til- 
den's  sister,  Mrs.  Pelton,  a  gracious  gentlewoman,  of  charm 
ing  manners,  presides  over  his  household.  Her  son,  Colonel 
Pelton,  and  his  wife  and  daughter,  complete  the  family  circle. 

At  his  own  table,  Mr.  Tilden  is  the  best  of  hosts,  because 
the  least  obtrusive  in  his  hospitalit}'.  Children  always  take 
to  him.  He  is  fond  of  them  and  they  of  him.  Soon  after  his 
nomination,  a  little  girl  in  Georgia  sent  him  a  letter  of  con 
gratulation.  She  was  only  eight  years  old,  and  she  had 
printed  out  the  words  with  laborious  effort.  None  the  less 
they  had  the  freshness  and  sweetness  of  childish  prattle. 
She  closed  her  letter  by  saying :  "  I  did  not  have  any  middle 
name,  and  ma  said  I  might  take  one.  So  I  took  your  name 
because  I  like  Tilden  best  of  all.  Do  you  care  ?  "  He  did 
care.  He  cared  so  much  that  all  other  business  was  laid  aside 
for  five  minutes,  while  he  wrote  a  pleasant  answer  to  his  little 
friend  in  Georgia.  Some  of  the  letters  which  he  receives  are 
amusing,  and  he  enjoys  them  as  much  as  anybody.  He  em 
ploys  a  plain  matter-of-fact  clerk,  who  indorses  on  the  back 
of  each  epistle  the  substance  of  its  contents.  He  was  running 
over  a  pile  of  these  letters  one  day,  reading  the  indorsements 
aloud,  when  he  came  to  one  over  which  he  paused  a  moment, 
and  then  read :  "  Invokes  the  blessing  of  God  upon  you,  and 
wants  you  to  marry  a  Massachusetts  widow."  A  quizzical 
smile  beamed  in  his  face,  and,  utilizing  an  expression  which 
he  is  charged  with  using  pretty  often,  he  remarked,  "  I  will 
see  her  later."  He  prizes  at  its  full  value  the  relaxation  and 


358  THE   LIFE   OF  SAMUEL  J.   TILDEN. 

comfort  which  his  home-life  affords  him,  but  the  larger  share 
of  his  time  for  forty  years  has  been  devoted  to  work,  and  he 
could  not  if  he  would  release  himself  from  those  habits  of  in 
dustry  which  are  woven  into  the  warp  and  woof  of  his  nature. 
Martin  Van  Buren  said  of  Samuel  J.  Tilden,  twenty  years 
ago,  "  He  is  the  most  unambitious  man  I  ever  knew."  Mr. 
Van  Buren  viewed  Mr.  Tilden  from  his  own  standpoint,  of 
course — the  standpoint  of  one  who  had  sacrificed  much  to  the 
attainment  of  political  honors,  and  who,  after  holding  all  the 
highest  offices  in  the  country,  found  himself  disappointed  and 
defeated  at  the  last.  His  acquaintance  with  Tilden's  boy 
hood,  his  appreciation  of  his  talents,  and  his  knowledge  of  the 
opportunities  for  advancement  which  he  had  rejected,  led  him 
to  make  the  remark.  He  could  not  understand  how  a  man 
might  gratify  a  certain  sort  of  ambition  by  attending  strictly 
to  his  professional  pursuits,  winning  the  confidence  of  those 
around  him,  and  discharging  faithfully  his  duties  as  a  citizen. 
Yet  that  sphere  of  life  filled  the  measure  of  Mr.  Tilden's  am 
bition,  and  would  fill  it  to-day  if  he  had  not  been  driven  for 
ward  by  circumstances  stronger  than  he  could  control.  He 
has  been  charged  with  overweening  ambition,  and  yet  he 
never  sought  a  public  position  in  his  life.  He  has  been  ac 
cused  of  working  for  his  own  advancement.  He  has  worked 
for  the  advancement  of  a  cause  which  he  believes  to  be  essen 
tial  to  the  preservation  of  republican  institutions,  but  he  is  no 
self-seeker.  If  he  could  have  found  his  alter  ego — some  man 
who  possessed  the  courage,  the  energy,  the  intelligence,  and 
the  desire  to  bring  about  the  reforms  which  he  sought  and 
which  the  country  needed — he  would  have  supported  that 
man  for  the  presidency,  and  gladly  have  remained  in  retire 
ment  himself.  But  the  man  was  not  to  be  found.  Mr.  Tilden 
told  Secretary  Stanton,  in  1862,  that  a  great  military  genius 
rose  only  once  in  two  or  three  centuries.  A  great  political 
reformer  rises  hardly  as  often  as  a  military  genius.  The  civic 
hero's  task  is  more  difficult,  his  labor  more  thankless,  and  his 
reward  less  certain.  If  it  be  ambition  which  induces  any  man 


A  STUDY  OF  MR.   TILDEN'S  CHARACTER.  359 

to  grapple  with  fat,  sleek  thieves,  well  intrenched  in  power, 
then  it  is  that  sort  of  ambition  which  prompts  a  soldier  to 
volunteer  to  lead  a  forlorn  hope  in  battle.  Sometimes  the 
leader  of  a  forlorn  hope  survives,  and  great  is  his  glory.  Of- 
tener  he  is  slain  and  forgotten.  The  chances  are  so  much 
against  him  that  his  very  existence  demonstrates  his  unself 
ishness. 

The  enthusiasm  which  Mr.  Tilden  arouses  is  not  of  the 
frothy  sort.  It  is  based  on  the  judgment  of  men,  not  on 
their  impulses,  and  is  therefore  enduring.  If  the  Democratic 
party  had  not  been  convinced  that  he  was  the  best  represent 
ative  of  its  best  ideas,  he  would  not  have  been  nominated. 
From  the  first  there  was  a  feeling  of  safety  under  his  leader 
ship.  This  feeling  of  safety  begets  confidence ;  confidence 
begets  buoyancy,  and  buoyancy  begets  enthusiasm  which 
sweeps  down  barriers  and^nakes  heroes  of  us  all. 

He  is  the  best  financier  in  the  United  States.  He  never 
made  a  mistake  on  a  question  of  finance.  These  are  broad 
assertions,  but  they  are  fully  justified  by  the  facts.  His  coun 
sel  has  been  sought  for  twenty  years  by  the  safe  and  conserv 
ative  capitalists  of  the  country,  and  not  by  the  stock-jobbers 
and  reckless  speculators,  for  with  them  he  refused  to  have 
any  dealings.  His  financial  ability  is  one  of  the  elements  of 
his  strength.  Is  it  not  true,  if  the  finances  of  the  Govern 
ment  were  wisely  and  economically  managed  by  an  experi 
enced  hand,  that  the  currency  problems  which  trouble  the 
theorists  would  solve  themselves  ? 

The  love  which  Mr.  Tilden  inspires  in  the  hearts  of  his 
personal  friends  is  very  deep.  Almost  any  man  who  knows 
him  well  would  willingly  take  the  risk  of  death  in  his  behalf 
— with  a  tolerable  feeling  of  confidence,  however,  that  Mr. 
Tilden  would  step  in  at  the  last  moment  and  save  him.  But 
confidence  alone  does  not  make  love.  One  secret  of  his 
hold  on  the  affection  of  those  who  are  near  him  is  that  he 
never  patronizes  anybody.  There  is  not  in  his  nature  one 
atom  or  trace  of  that  vanity  which  gratifies  itself  by  the  con- 


360  THE  LIFE  OF  SAMUEL  J.   TILDEN. 

templation  of  a  position  superior  to  that  of  others.  He  meets 
everybody  on  a  plane  of  perfect  equality,  not  with  an  affecta 
tion  of  equality,  but  with  a  manner  which  makes  the  visitor 
forget  in  a  moment  that  he  is  in  the  presence  of  the  Governor 
of  New  York,  and  remember  only  that  he  is  talking  to  a  plain, 
sensible,  and  wise  man. 

Governor  Tilden  is  five  feet  ten  inches  in  height,  with 
spare  figure,  light  complexion,  and  blue  eyes.  His  head  .is 
large  and  round.  His  hair,  originally  chestnut,  is  now  plen 
tifully  sprinkled  with  gray,  but  is  still  of  abundant  growth. 
He  has  entered  his  sixty-third  year,  but  retains  his  strength 
and  vigor  in  a  remarkable  degree.  He  comes  of  a  long-lived 
family.  The  record  is  preserved  of  fourteen  of  his  ancestors 
on  his  father's  and  mother's  side,  in  a  direct  line,  and  it  shows 
that  their  average  age  was  upward  of  seventy-nine  years. 

If  Samuel  J.  Tilden  should  be  called  to  the  presidency,  he 
would,  in  his  own  words,  enter  upon  the  great  duties  that 
would  fall  upon  him,  "  not  as  one  entering  upon  a  holiday 
recreation,  but  very  much  in  that  spirit  of  consecration  in 
which  a  soldier  enters  battle."  He  has  drunk  deep  at  the 
fountains  of  patriotism.  He  gives  to  his  country  that  love 
which  others  yield  to  wife  and  children.  He  is  whole  in  him 
self,  possessing  firmness  without  obstinacy,  courage  without 
bravado,  religion  without  cant.  The  traditions  of  the  fathers 
are  his  inspiration.  He  has  no  personal  ends  to  serve,  no 
other  ambition  than  to  save  the  land  of  our  love  and  com 
memoration  from  the  canker  of  corruption  which  ate  out  the 
heart  of  every  republic  of  ancient  times.  That  the  purpose 
to  which  he  has  consecrated  himself  may  be  attained,  through 
him  or  through  others,  is  surely  the  prayer  of  every  patriotic 
American. 


A  SKETCH  OE  THE  LIEE 

OF 

HON.  THOMAS  A.  HENDKICKS 


16 


OF  THE 

SITY 


a/7 


A  SKETCH  OF  THE  LIFE 


OF 


EON,  THOMAS  A.  HENDRICKS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

LIFE   AND   CHARACTER. 

THOMAS  A.  HEKDRICKS  was  born  in  Muskingum  County, 
Ohio,  on  the  7th  day  of  September,  1819.  Three  years  later 
his  father  removed  to  Shelby  County,  Indiana,  and  there  took 
up  his  abode.  The  Hendricks  family  was  possessed  of  a  mod 
erate  fortune,  and  Thomas  was  afforded  the  advantages  of  a 
thorough  education.  As  a  boy  he  evinced  many  of  those  at 
tributes  which  in  after-life  made  him  famous.  He  was  intelli 
gent,  kind-hearted,  and  sympathetic.  His  condition  enabled 
him  to  render  material  assistance  to  many  of  his  poorer  com 
panions,  and  the  opportunity  to  do  a  generous  act  wras  never 
slighted.  His  genial  nature  and  warm  heart,  not  less  than 
his  intelligence  and  ready  wit,  made  him  a  favorite  with  all 
who  knew  him.  When  eighteen  years  old  he  entered  Han 
over  College,  from  which  institution  he  graduated  in  1841. 
His  college-life  was  very  much  like  the  school-boy  life  which 
had  preceded  it.  He  wras  a  good  student  and  equally  popu 
lar  with  his  classmates  and  instructors. 

Leaving  college,  Hendricks,  who  was  then  twenty-two 
years  old,  went  to  Chambersburg,  Pennsylvania,  where  he  be 
gan  the  study  of  law.  In  1843  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar, 
and  immediately  after  returned  to  Indiana,  where  he  entered 
upon  the  practice  of  his  profession.  His  success  was  rapid  and 
well  deserved.  He  won  the  confidence  of  all  with  whom  he 


364  THE  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  A.   HENDRICKS. 

was  thrown  into  contact,  and,  from  the  very  outset  of  his 
professional  career,  gave  evidences  of  superior  legal  attain 
ments  and  solid  worth  of  character.  He  entered  with  an 
honest  zeal  into  every  case  which  engaged  his  attention,  and 
never  slighted  any  detail,  however  seemingly  unimportant, 
which  might  strengthen  the  cause  of  a  client.  His  industry 
reaped  its  own  reward.  He  became  distinguished  at  the  bar 
both  for  his  wide  knowledge  of  the  law  and  for  the  subtilty 
and  soundness  of  his  arguments.  Men  trusted  him  because 
they  knew  that  his  opinions  were  correct,  and  his  convictions 
honest.  Habitually  cautious  and  courteous,  there  were  still 
times  when  he  threw  aside  these  attributes,  and  became 
strongly  aggressive.  But  his  aggression  was  always  against 
what  he  believed  to  be  wrong.  Under  all  circumstances  he  was 
a  dangerous  opponent.  It  has  often  been  said,  in  speaking  of 
Mr.  Hendricks's  early  success  as  a  lawyer,  that,  while  many 
of  his  rivals  were  more  apt  to  win  their  cases  before  a  jury, 
he  invariably  carried  his  point  with  a  judge. 

Like  Mr.  Tilden,  Mr.  Hendricks  has  achieved  distinction  in 
his  profession,  and  his  reputation  as  a  lawyer  rests  upon  a 
solid  foundation.  Yet,  like  Mr.  Tilden  also,  he  is  seldom 
thought  of  merely  as  a  lawyer.  His  political  career  has  made 
him  famous,  and  what  he  has  achieved  at  the  bar  is  forgotten 
in  the  more  illustrious  record  which  he  has  made  in  public 
life.  That  record  dates  back  to  the  year  1845,  at  which  time 
he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  State  Legislature  of  Indiana. 
This  was  only  two  years  after  he  had  entered  upon  the  prac 
tice  of  his  profession.  He  took  his  seat  in  the  Legislature  at 
the  age  of  twenty-six,  and  did  such  excellent  service  that 
when  the  State  Constitutional  Convention  was  called,  in 
1850,  he  was  chosen  a  member  of  that  body.  During  these 
five  years  Mr.  Hendricks  had  made  rapid  progress,  and  was 
looked  upon  as  one  of  the  most  promising  young  men  in  the 
State.  It  is  no  matter  of  surprise,  therefore,  that  he  should 
have  been  chosen  to  represent  the  Indianapolis  district  in 
Congress,  a  position  which  he  continued  to  fill  from  1851  until 


LIFE  AND   CHARACTER.  365 

1856.  His  record  in  Congress  was  alike  honorable  to  him 
self  and  satisfactory  to  his  constituents.  During  the  four 
years  which  followed  after  his  retirement  from  the  House, 
and  which  preceded  his  nomination  for  Governor,  Mr.  Hen- 
dricks  held  the  position  of  Commissioner  of  the  General 
Land-Office.  Up  to  this  period  (1860),  although  he  had  been 
actively  engaged  in  political  affairs,  he  had  not  neglected 
his  professional  duties.  He  had  gained  a  strong  hold  upon 
the  Democracy  of  Indiana,  while  his  personal  popularity  and 
upright  life  had  won  for  him  the  respect  of  his  political  op; 
ponents. 

In  the  memorable  campaign  of  1860,  Henry  S.  Lane  was 
nominated  on  the  Republican  ticket  for  the  governorship  of 
Indiana.  Two  years  before,  the  Democrats  had  elected  a 
Secretary  of  State  by  2,581  majority.  The  man  who  was  con 
sidered  the  strongest  opponent  to  Lane  was  Thomas  A.  Hen- 
dricks,  and  he  was  accordingly  nominated  by  the  Democratic 
Convention.  The  campaign  of  that  year  was  an  exciting  one, 
but  it  resulted  in  the  defeat  of  Mr.  Hendricks.  This  was  ow 
ing  not  so  much  to  the  strength  of  Lane,  as  to  the  political 
revolution  which  extended  throughout  all  the  Northern  States. 
The  Republican  party,  headed  by  Abraham  Lincoln,  was  car 
ried  into  sudden  power.  Indiana  fell  into  the  general  line> 
and  gave  a  Republican  majority  of  9,757. 

Immediately  after  Mr.  Lane's  inauguration  as  Governor, 
he  was  chosen  United  States  Senator,  and  at  once  resigned 
the  gubernatorial  chair,  in  order  to  take  his  seat  in  Congress. 
His  successor  was  Oliver  P.  Morton.  When  the  election  of 
1862  came  about,  Indiana  was  counted  certain  for  the  Repub 
lican  party,  but  surprised  the  political  prophets  by  electing  a 
Democratic  Legislature.  This  victory  had  a  broader  signifi 
cance  than  the  mere  confines  of  the  State.  It  was  that  year 
when  a  Senator  in  Congress  was  to  be  chosen,  and  it  gave  to 
the  Democratic  majority  in  the  Legislature  the  power  of  select 
ing  an  able  and  upright  man  to  represent  Indiana  in  the  Sen 
ate,  at  a  time  when  ability  and  uprightness  were  more  than 


366  THE  LIFE   OF  THOMAS   A.   HENDRICKS. 

ever  needed.  The  choice  of  the  Democrats  wisely  fell  upon  Mr. 
Hendricks.  His  past  career  recommended  him  so  highly  to 
the  members  of  the  Legislature,  that  his  election  to  the  high 
office  of  Senator  was  held  to  be  only  a  just  and  proper  recog 
nition  of  the  fidelity  with  which  he  had  discharged  all  public 
duties.  He  was  chosen  for  the  term  ending  in  March,  1869. 

Mr.  Hendricks's  record  in  the  Senate  is  in  all  respects 
praiseworthy  and  honorable.  He  served  in  the  Committees 
on  Claims,  Public  Buildings,  the  Judiciary,  Public  Lands,  and 
Naval  Affairs,  and  in  all  these  positions  he  did  his  duty  man 
fully  and  well.  It  is  to  be  remembered  that  at  this  period 
the  Democratic  party  was  represented  in  the  Senate  only  by 
a  weak  minority.  Nothing  was  possible  save  an  able  protest 
against  the  various  reconstruction  measures  adopted,  and  even 
this  was  to  be  made  in  the  face  of  strong  popular  prejudice 
throughout  the  country,  as  well  as  bitter  opposition  in  the 
Senate-chamber.  Mr.  Hendricks  had  no  sooner  taken  his  seat 
in  the  Senate  than  he  was  recognized  as  a  leader  among  the 
Democratic  members,  and  in  a  very  short  time  he  had  achieved 
for  himself  a  national  reputation.  He  was  strongly  opposed 
to  the  plan  of  reconstruction  as  advocated  by  the  Republican 
party,  and  upheld,  most  earnestly,  the  policy  first  advanced 
by  Abraham  Lincoln,  and  which  Andrew  Johnson  afterward 
sought  to  carry  out.  He  held  it  as  a  part  of  his  political  faith 
that  the  prosperity  of  the  white  people  of  the  South,  even 
though  they  had  been  rebels,  was  a  matter  of  more  impor 
tance  than  the  prosperity  of  the  negroes.  He  believed  that 
the  natural  supremacy  of  the  white  race  was  a  sufficient  guar 
antee  for  the  safety  of  all.  Shaping  his  political  conduct 
upon  this  theory,  he  naturally  opposed  the  exalting  of  the 
freedmen  into  a  governing  class,  while  the  white  people  were 
to  be  disfranchised.  Such  a  course  he  believed  to  be  no  less 
an  evil  than  slavery  itself.  The  arguments  which  Mr.  Hen 
dricks  presented  at  that  time  have  been  adopted  as  the  au 
thoritative  statement  of  Democratic  opinion,  in  the  summaries 
of  congressional  debates. 


LIFE  AND   CHARACTER.  367 

It  has  been  charged,  and  that  not  unfrequently  since  his 
nomination  for  the  vice-presidency,  that  Mr.  Hendricks  is  a 
timid  and  over-cautions  man.  He  may  be  cautious,  and  in 
some  instances  even  timid ;  but  neither  his  caution  nor  his 
timidity  ever  smacks  of  cowardice.  When  the  clash  of  a 
personal  encounter  once  kindles  the  latent  fire  of  his  nature, 
he  is  bold,  vigorous,  and  aggressive.  Those  who  believe  him 
to  be  lacking  in  force  of  character,  or  depth  of  conviction-, 
need  only  read  his  record  while  in  the  Senate.  While  they 
may  not  agree  with  all  his  opinions,  they  will  be  struck  with 
the  frankness  and  boldness  with  which  he  maintained  his 
views.  During  the  discussion  of  the  reconstruction  meas 
ures  Mr.  Hendricks  took  a  determined  stand,  and  held  it 
against  all  the  attacks  of  his  opponents.  His  objections  to 
the  proposed  amendments  of  the  Constitution  he  stated 
clearly  and  concisely.  These  objections  were  based  upon 
the  belief  that  during  the  war,  or  so  soon  after  its  close 
as  not  to  allow  the  passions  of  the  country  time  to  cool, 
the  foundations  of  government  ought  not  to  be  disturbed. 
An  examination  of  his  senatorial  career  will  show  that  he 
voted  for  and  supported  those  measures  which  were  neces 
sary  to  maintain  the  vigorous  prosecution  of  the  war ;  that 
he  favored  by  his  voice  and  vote  the  appropriation  of  1864, 
which  carried  the  rebellion  to  its  close  ;  and  that  he  pro 
posed  and  advocated  an  amendment  to  that  bill,  allowing  an 
increase  of  fifty  per  cent,  upon  the  soldiers'  pay,  because  of 
the  depreciation  of  the  currency  in  which  they  were  paid. 
If  Mr.  Hendricks  is  a  cautious  man,  his  caution  is  the  out 
growth  of  his  sound  sense  ;  if  he  be  timid,  he  is  still  brave 
enough  to  stand  unflinchingly  by  his  principles,  and  to  follow 
the  line  of  duty,  no  matter  where  it  leads. 

In  the  impeachment  trial  of  Andrew  Johnson  Mr.  Hen 
dricks  played  an  active  and  important  part,  and  added  not  a 
little  to  his  reputation  as  a  shrewd  and  able  lawyer.  Per 
haps  no  better  proof  of  his  ability  and  success  in  the  Senate 
can  be  adduced  than  that  before  the  close  of  a  single  term  he 


368  THE  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  A.   HENDRICKS. 

had  placed  himself  among  the  foremost  men  of  his  party,  and 
had  come  to  be  regarded  as  a  prominent  candidate  for  the 
presidency.  In  the  Democratic  National  Convention  of  1868, 
which  assembled  in  Tammany  Hall,  in  the  city  of  New  York, 
Mr.  Hendricks's  name  was  brought  forward  and  received  an 
enthusiastic  greeting.  There  were  eighteen  candidates  in 
the  field  that  year,  and  twenty -two  ballots  were  taken  before 
the  convention  made  its  choice.  On  the  twenty-first  ballot 
Mr.  Hendricks  received  132  votes,  which  was  ahead  of  any  of 
the  other  candidates  except  General  Hancock,  who  received 
135i.  When  the  roll  was  called  for  the  final  ballot  Mr.  Hen 
dricks  was  gaining  rapidly,  until  Ohio  named  Horatio  Sey 
mour,  and  the  convention  unanimously  agreed  upon  that 
distinguished  statesman.  Forgetting  all  personal  ambition, 
Mr.  Hendricks  gave  his  earnest  support  to  the  nominee  of 
the  party,  and  did  excellent  work  during  the  campaign  which 
followed. 

Mr.  Hendricks's  term  in  the  Senate  expired  in  1869.  He 
returned  immediately  to  his  home  in  Indianapolis,  and  once 
more  took  up  the  practice  of  his  profession.  But,  while  he 
devoted  himself  to  the  law,  he  was  not  permitted  to  remain 
silent  on  the  political  issues  of  the  day.  Men  came  to  him 
for  advice  on  all  important  matters,  and  his  wisdom  and  ex 
perience  gave  weight  to  his  counsels. 

As  illustrating  the  view  which  Mr.  Hendricks  took  of  the 
Southern  question  after  his  retirement  from  the  Senate,  the 
appended  extract  from  a  speech  delivered  in  New  Orleans, 
February  12,  1870,  is  given.  This  speech  was  received  with 
the  utmost  enthusiasm,  and  reflects  the  sentiments  of  a  very 
large  class  of  the  Democratic  party  : 

EXTRACT  FROM  GOVERNOR  HENDRICKS'S  SPEECH  HADE 
AT  NEW  ORLEANS,  FEBRUARY  12,  1870. 

You  will  allow  me  to  speak  of  one  other  question,  which  is  some 
what  local  and  peculiar  to  yourselves — a  question  with  which  we  of  the 
State  of  Indiana  shall  have  to  deal,  but  not  to  the  extent  to  which 
you  have  to  deal  with  it.  In  one  way  or  other  the  radicals  of 


LIFE  AND   CHARACTER.  369 

Washington  intend  to  have  it  a  fixed  fact  that  the  fifteenth  amend- 
mend  to  the  Constitution  has  been  adopted.     Eight  or  wrong,  they 
intend  it  shall  be  declared  adopted  as  a  part  of  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States.     Under  that  provision,  then,  when  it  shall  have 
been  declared  to  have  been  adopted,  the  colored  people  of  the  whole 
country  become  voters  ;  they  become  clothed  with  political  rights,  as 
they  have  been  before  by  congressional  action,  as  far  as  Congress 
could  do  it,  clothed  with  civil  rights.     It  is  a  question  for  you  to  con 
sider  very  carefully  what  attitude  you  men  of  the  South  shall  occupy 
toward  the  colored  population.     There  is  a  deliberate  purpose  on  the 
part  of  adventurers  from  the  North — a  class  of  men  who  are  de 
scribed  as  "carpet-baggers"  [laughter] — to   appropriate  the  entire 
colored  vote  of  the  South  to  their  cause.     And  what  is  their  cause  ? 
It  is  not  your  cause ;  it  is  not  the  colored  men's  cause  [assent] ;  it  is 
the  cause  of  plunder  [cheers].     And  the  question  presents  itself  in 
this  form :  Are  you,  men  of  the  South,  willing  that  these  adventurers 
shall  appropriate  that  large  vote — in  some -of  the  Southern  States  a 
majority  of  the  entire  vote?     Are  you  willing  that  this  vote  shall  be 
appropriated  for  such  a  purpose  ?     [A  voice :  "  Not  if  we  can  help 
it ! "      Laughter   and  applause.]     How   can  we  help    it  ?      Simply 
enough.     It  is  a  question  simply  of  personal  influence  between  you, 
men  of  the  South,  "  to  the  manner  born,"  and  those  who  have  set 
tled  here,  on  the  one  side,  and  these  hap-hazard  adventurers  of  the 
North  on  the  other  side.     That  is  the  way  the  question  stands.   New 
relations  have  come  to  exist  between  you  and  the  colored  people  of 
the  South.     How  will  you  place  yourselves  in  regard  to  these  new  re 
lations  ?     They  have  not  been  of  your  seeking,  and  they  may,  peH 
haps,  not  have  been  sought  by  the  negro  ;  but  he  is  a  voter  in  LouisiA 
ana,  as  he  will  be  in  Indiana,  if  the  fifteenth  amendment  is  declared  \ 
adopted  ;  and  it  is  not  worth  your  while,  nor  is  it  worth  my  while, 
to  go  back  on  the  fixed  fact.     That  traveler  in  the  mountain-pass  is 
not  wise,  when  he  overtakes  the  storm,  to  be  casting  his  eyes  back     / 
upon  the  plain  which  he  has  left.     It  is  his  business  to  consider  the 
dangers  which  menace  him  at  the  time,  and  to  save  himself  from  the 
threatened  peril.     How  can  you  do  it  ?     These  new  relations  are  upon 
you.     How  are  you  to  conduct  yourselves  toward  the  colored  people  ? 
They  were  your  friends.     There  were  social  relations  between  you — 
the  relations  of  master  and  servant.     They  had  your  confidence,  and 
you  had  theirs.     Is  it  possible  that  the  stranger  can  now  come  in  and 
make  these  ancient  servants  of  yours  his  servants  and  your  enemies  ? 


370  THE  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  A.   HENDRICKS. 

[Applause.]  There  is  no  occasion,  in  these  new  relations  which  were 
forced  upon  you,  that  you  should  entertain  sentiments  of  dislike  to 
the  negro  because  of  it.  It  is  not  of  bis  seeking ;  he  did  not  pro 
duce  this  change  of  relations.  The  altered  condition  of  tbings.has 
been  forced  on  the  country  and  on  you,  not  by  the  colored  man,  but 
by  ambitious  politicians,  North  and  South,  who  wish  to  make  capital 
out  of  it.  ["  That's  so,"  and  cheers.]  I  hope  to  see  Southern  men 
taking  this  weapon,  which  is  placed  in  their  hands,  and  using  it  for 
their  country's  good.  [Applause.]  You  have  no  cause  to  entertain 
prejudice  against  the  colored  people.  ["We  don't  do  it!"]  When 
your  young  men  were  far  off  in  the  field,  and  even  your  aged  men — 
many  of  them  were  absent  during  the  four  years  of  the  war — you 
left  these  colored  men  at  your  homes,  where  they  stood  sentinels  at 
the  doors,  and  your  wives  and  your  children  were  safe  under  their 
protection.  They  labored  and  cultivated  your  lands,  and  raised  those 
products  which  supported  the  armies  in  the  fields.  And  now  is  it 
possible  that  the  foreigner — I  speak  not  of  the  foreigner  as  a  man  of 
another  country,  but  men  foreign  to  your  interests,  men  of  other  sec 
tions  of  the  country — is  it  possible  that  they  shall  come  in  and  make 
these  colored  men  to  hate  you,  and  destroy  you  ?  Your  interests  are 
the  interests  of  the  colored  men. 

A  few  colored  men  may  be  brought  around  the  lobbies  of  the 
Legislature  ;  they  may  be  temporarily  invested  with  a  few  offices : 
but  you  go  to  work  and  persuade  the  colored  men  that  their  interests 
are  claimed  by  just  laws  alone,  and  that  these  apparent  benefits  which 
are  conferred  on  a  few  of  their  number  do  not  go  to  make  up  the 
benefits  of  the  great  body  of  them.  Give  them  to  understand  that 
the  offices  which  are  conferred  on  the  colored  men  here  and  the  col 
ored  men  there  work  a  positive  injustice  to  the  people  at  large.  Let 
them  understand  that,  with  regard  to  their  civil  rights,  you  are  will 
ing  to  give  them  just  laws.  The  negro,  of  his  own  motion,  is  not 
going  to  ask  for  social  equality  or  social  rights.  It  is  the  Northern 
adventurer  only  who  is  trying  to  agitate  that  question,  to  make  it  a 
groundwork  of  ill-feeling  between  you  and  the  colored  man.  In 
1867,  Senator  Wilson,  addressing  an  audience  in  this  square,  declared 
this  true  doctrine — that  no  law  in  any  land  could  open  any  man's 
parlor  to  him,  and  no  law  could  open  his  parlor  to  any  other  man. 
The  social  rights,  the  social  position  of  a  man,  depend  upon  himself. 
They  are  not  regulated  by  law,  and  the  man  that  insists  that  there 
will  be  social  relations  between  the  whites  and  the  blacks  incon 


LIFE  AND   CHARACTER.  371 

sistcnt  with  the  proper  relations  of  those  two  races  is  the  friend  of 
neither.  He  is  the  enemy  of  both  races.  [Applause.]  In  my  judg 
ment,  the  colored  people  will  be  satisfied  if  you  assure  them  that  you 
will  give  them  just  laws,  fairly  administered.  Do  this,  and  then  the 
outside  adventurer  cannot  turn  their  votes  against  you.  Let  the  col 
ored  man  understand  that  the  legislation  of  your  State  is  being  car 
ried  on  to  make  a  few  men  rich  at  the  expense  of  the  great  body  of 
the  people.  Appeal  to  the  colored  man  to  stand  by  you  in  your  fight 
for  honesty,  for  justice,  for  integrity,  and  for  equal  laws ;  and  that 
appeal  will  reach  his  heart  as  readily  as  it  reaches  the  heart  of  the 
great  body  of  the  white  people.  I  don't  want  you  to  consider  what 
I  have  said  as  the  expression  of  a  man  who  is  well  informed  on  the 
subject.  I  have  never  been  brought  into  close  contact  with  colored 
men  to  any  considerable  extent.  I  don't  know  much  of  their  habits ; 
I  don't  know  much  of  the  influence  brought  to  bear  upon  them  ;  but  I 
do  believe  that  the  men  who  have  known  them  from  childhood  up — the 
men  who  have  been  their  friends  in  times  past — may,  by  a  proper 
course,  restore  that  influence  in  themselves  which  will  enable  them 
to  secure  the  colored  vote  for  the  good  of  your  State  and  for  the 
good  of  the  country.  Let  the  consolidated  sentiment  of  the  men  of 
Louisiana  be  brought  to  bear  upon  the  Legislature  and  for  the  right. 
You  ask  nothing  that  is  wrong ;  you  ask  that  you  may  be  taxed  only 
for  the  public  good,  and  that  the  corrupt  tide  of  special  legislation 
shall  be  stopped.  We  have  much  to  accomplish.  "What  is  it  we  in 
tend  ?  That  this  Union  shall  be  perpetual ;  that  it  shall  rest  on  the 
Constitution;  and  that  all  the  rights,  privileges,  and  prerogatives  of 
the  State  shall  be  maintained  forever  under  that  Government ;  and 
that  the  national  Union,  thus  supported  by  States  clothed  with  all 
their  rights,  will  be  the  temple  in  which  freemen  shall  worship  for 
ever  together.  [Cheers.] 

What  do  we  wish  to  accomplish  ?  Nothing  that  is  wrong— every 
thing  that  is  right.  We  wish  to  establish  in  the  United  States  equal 
laws  and  just  taxation.  These  we  must  have.  This  plunder  of  the 
State  and  national  Treasury  is  becoming  universal.  There  must  be  a 
return  to  a  spirit  of  honesty  in  the  public  service,  both  national  and 
State.  There  is  a  power  greater  than  that  of  law.  Daniel  Webster, 
in  one  of  his  beautiful  orations,  when  the  question  was  agitating  the 
heart  of  the  world  what  treatment  Russia  would  extend  to  Kossuth, 
and  whether  Russia  would  demand  the  return  of  that  patriot  when 
he  was  under  the  protection  of  Turkey,  said  there  was  a  power 


372  THE  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  A.   HENDRICKS. 

mightier  than  the  earthquake,  more  terrible  than  the  rumbling  of  the 
storm — the  judgment  of  mankind.  [Cheers.] 

Let  us,  North  and  South,  unite  now  for  the  purpose  of  maintaining 
the  institutions  of  our  country  in  the  spirit  in  which  they  were  estab 
lished  by  the  great  men  who  founded  this  government. 

I  thank  you  for  the  attention  you  have  given  me.  I  thank  you 
for  this  welcome.  It  is  my  first  visit  to  the  Southern  country.  I 
thought  that  I  kneAV  some  of  your  institutions.  I  thought  I  would 
come  and  see  if  I  was  mistaken.  I  am  satisfied  that  the  course  which 
I  felt  it  my  duty  to  take  in  regard  to  the  question  of  reconstruction 
was  right.  I  thought  it  was  right  at  the  time.  Now  I  doubt  it  not. 
I  know  I  was  right.  [Cheers.]  I  have  seen  you  face  to  face.  I  have 
heard  your  gentlemen  talk  on  this  subject.  I  know  how  you  feel. 
The  past  is  the  past  to  you.  The  future  is  coming  with  its  weighty 
interests  and  responsibilities.  Let  us  rise  to  meet  the  future.  Let  us 
welcome  it;  and  let  us  be  sure  that  "liberty  for  all  and  oppression 
for  none"  is  the  watchword  of  that  future.  [Loud  cheers.] 

In  1872,  when  Horace  Greeley  was  made  the  presidential 
candidate  of  the  Democratic  party,  and  when  the  fusion  of 
the  so-called  Liberal  Republicans  postponed  the  day  of  am 
bition,  Mr.  Hendricks,  although  the  movement  was  in  opposi 
tion  to  his  own  views,  acquiesced  in  what  appeared  to  be  the 
popular  will,  and  gave  his  hearty  approval  to  the  new  de 
parture.  During  that  eventful  campaign  he  was  not  allowed 
to  remain  idle.  The  Democracy  of  Indiana  felt  the  need  of  a 
strong  and  popular  man  to  become  its  standard-bearer.  Such 
a  man  was  found  in  Thomas  A.  Hendricks.  In  face  of  his 
earnest  protest  he  was,  therefore,  again  nominated  for  the 
governorship.  The  result  of  the  campaign  of  1872  need  not 
be  repeated  here.  It  was  wellnigh  disastrous  to  the  Demo 
cratic  party  throughout  the  country;  and  Indiana,  although  it 
did  better  than  many  other  States,  had  little  to  brag  about. 
The  Republicans  carried  the  Legislature,  and  elected  all  of 
their  State  ticket  except  the  Governor  and  Superintendent  of 
Public  Instruction.  Grant's  majority  was  21,090;  but  so 
great  was  the  personal  popularity  of  Mr.  Hendricks  that  he 
overcame  these  sweeping  figures,  and  was  elected  by  a  ma- 


LIFE  AND   CHARACTER.  373 

jority  of  1,148  over  the  Republican  candidate,  Thomas  M. 
Brown. 

Governor  Hendricks's  administration  has  been  distin 
guished  from  the  first  for  its  honesty  and  ability.  When  it 
has  become  his  duty  to  take  an  active  part  in  the  discussion 
of  the  issues  of  the  day,  he  has  done  so  in  a  wise  and  manly 
way.  He  has  maintained  his  opinions  with  firmness  and 
effect,  albeit  he  has  sometimes  adopted  a  conciliatory  tone. 
At  the  Democratic  State  Convention  held  at  Indianapolis  in 
July,  1874,  Mr.  Hendricks  was  made  permanent  chairman,  and 
in  his  address  delivered  on  that  occasion  he  argued  that  gold 
and  silver  were  the  true  basis  of  our  currency,  and  that  the 
proper  method  of  returning  to  specie  payments  was  through 
the  gro wing-up  process — the  development  of  the  resources 
of  the  South,  the  increase  of  production,  and  the  retrench 
ment  of  public  and  private  expenditures.  The  platform 
adopted  at  the  Indianapolis  Convention,  so  far  as  its  treat 
ment  of  the  financial  question  was  concerned,  differed  essen 
tially  from  the  views  held  by  Governor  Hendricks.  In  the 
canvass  which  ensued  he  took  occasion  to  define  distinctly 
the  points  of  difference  between  the  doctrines  of  the  platform 
and  his  own  opinions.  In  illustration  of  Mr.  Hendricks's 
teachings  at  this  time,  an  extract  from  his  address  to  the 
convention  is  given.  After  arguing  against  the  hasty  con 
traction  of  our  paper  circulation,  checking  labor  and  paralyz 
ing  enterprise  on  the  one  hand,  and  against  undue  inflation, 
which  would  lead  to  depreciation  and  a  reckless  spirit  of 
speculation  and  adventure  on  the  other,  he  said : 

We  desire  a  return  to  specie  payments.  It  is  a  serious  evil  when 
there  are  commercial  mediums  of  different  values;  when  one  descrip 
tion  of  our  money  is  for  one  class  and  purpose,  and  another  for  a 
different  class  and  purpose.  We  cannot  too  strongly  express  the  im 
portance  of  the  policy  that  shall  restore  uniformity  of  value  to  all  the 
money  of  the  country,  so  that  it  shall  be  always  and  readily  converti 
ble.  That  gold  and  silver  are  the  real  standard  of  value  is  a  cherished 
Democratic  sentiment,  not  now  nor  hereafter  to  be  abandoned.  But 
I  do  not  look  to  any  arbitrary  enactment  of  Congress  for  a  restora- 


374  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  A.   HENDRICKS. 

tion  of  specie  payments.  Such  an  effort  now  would  probably  pro 
duce  wide-spread  commercial  disaster.  A  congressional  declaration 
cannot  make  the  paper  currency  equal  to  gold  in  value.  It  cannot 
make  a  bank-note  equal  to  your  dollar.  The  business  of  the  country 
alone  can  do  that.  When  we  find  the  coin  of  the  country  increasing, 
then  we  may  know  that  we  are  moving  in  the  direction  of  specie 
payments.  The  important  financial  question  is,  How  can  we  in 
crease  and  make  permanent  our  supply  of  gold?  The  reliable  solu 
tion  is  by  increasing  our  productions  and  thereby  reducing  our  pur 
chases  and  increasing  our  sales  abroad.  He  can  really  obtain  money 
who  produces  more  than  he  consumes  of  articles  that  are  wanted  in 
the  market,  and  I  suppose  that  is  also  true  of  communities  and  na 
tions.  How  can  the  Eepublican  party  atone  to  the  people  for  its 
evil  policies  which  have  driven  gold  from  the  country,  and  rendered 
a  return  to  specie  payment  more  difficult,  and  made  its  postponement 
inevitable  ? 

Those  who  are  in  any  degree  familiar  with  Governor 
Hendricks's  views  know  perfectly  well  that  he  is  and  always 
has  been  in  favor  of  hard  money.  His  opinion  with  respect 
to  resumption  may  have  differed  from  others  of  his  party,  but 
he  has  invariably  argued  that  gold  and  silver  are  the  only 
basis  of  our  currency,  and  holding  to  that  belief  he  cannot  be 
said  to  represent  other  than  a  sound  financial  doctrine.  His 
action  in  going  into  the  Ohio  canvass  in  1875  in  support  of 
Mr.  Allen  was  based  upon  the  desire  for  the  success  of  the 
Democracy.  He  deemed  the  triumph  of  the  party  in  that 
State  essential,  and  threw  himself  into  the  canvass,  heartily 
holding  that  the  financial  issue  was  not  the  overshadowing 
one.  The  great  thing  to  gain  was  victory,  no  matter  whether 
some  of  the  men  in  the  same  rank  agreed  with  him  on  all 
points  in  politics  or  not. 

Governor  Hendricks's  personal  appearance  is  most  pre 
possessing.  Of  medium  height,  erect,  active,  and  vigorous, 
with  a  manly,  handsome  face,  and  large,  expressive  features, 
he  wins  the  good  opinion  of  all  who  meet  him.  His  face  is  a 
blending  of  mildness  and  determination.  The  eyes  are  soft 
and  blue,  and  the  chin  dimpled,  with  an  expression  of  good- 
humor  about  the  mouth  ;  but  the  high  brow  and  heavy  jaw 


LIFE  AND   CHARACTER.  375 

indicate  wisdom  and  resolution.  His  complexion  is  florid, 
and  his  hair  and  side-whiskers  are  yet  untouched  with  gray. 
He  looks  like  a  man  who  has  lived  a  happy  life,  and  who, 
through  the  turmoil  of  a  public  career,  has  never  lost  his  love 
for  the  refining  influences  of  home.  To  acquaintances  he  is 
affable  and  easy,  to  close  friends  warm  and  lovable,  to  politi 
cal  partisans  courteous  but  cautious.  He  would  rather  con 
ciliate  an  enemy  than  oblige  an  ally.  His  habits  are  such 
that  he  found  $5,000  a  year  ample  for  his  expenditures  during 
his  senatorial  term  at  Washington.  He  has  always  trusted 
to  doing  the  work  which  he  had  in  hand  well  as  the  highest 
recommendation  in  the  long-run  before  the  people,  and  the 
many  honors  which  have  come  to  him  seem  to  have  been  con 
quered  without  great  effort.  Mr.  Hendricks  is  married  to  a 
woman  of  great  culture  and  force  of  character,  who  has  been 
a  constant  helpmate  to  him  through  life. 

Governor  Hendricks  possesses  the  quality  described  as 
magnetism  in  a  wonderful  degree.  Those  who  once  fall  under 
the  bewitching  influence  of  his  voice,  who  feel  the  warm  grasp 
of  his  hand,  and  look  into  his  honest  face,  are  henceforth  his 
friends.  With  the  exception  of  Horatio  Seymour,  it  is  doubt 
ful  if  any  other  man  in  America  can  exert  as  great  an  influence 
over  a  popular  assemblage  as  Mr.  Hendricks.  And  all  the 
power  that  he  possesses  over  men  in  mass  he  possesses  over 
them  individually.  He  has  a  temper  so  sweet  and  sunny  that 
no  adverse  circumstances  can  disturb  it.  In  1868  he  was 
the  favorite  candidate  of  his  State  for  the  presidency.  In 
1872  he  would  probably  have  been  the  nominee  of  the 
party  but  for  the  Liberal  alliance.  In  1876  he  would 
have  been  at  the  head  of  the  ticket  if  Governor  Tilden 
had  not  come  to  the  front.  But  he  has  met  all  these 
disappointments  (if  disappointments  they  were)  in  such  a 
spirit  of  philosophical  good-humor  that  his  genial  face  gives 
no  sign  of  any  inward  strife.  He  enjoys  not  only  the  love  of 
unnumbered  friends,  but  the  respect  of  the  country.  He  has 
already  won  his  place  in  the  first  rank  of  living  statesmen, 
and  the  end  is  not  yet. 


CHAPTER  II. 

SPEECH   AT   INDIANAPOLIS. 

DUKING  the  campaign  of  1874  Governor  Hendricks  made 
a  number  of  stirring  speeches,  none  of  which,  perhaps,  were 
received  with  greater  favor  than  was  that  delivered  at  Indian 
apolis  on  the  evening  of  Monday,  September  14th.  As  illus 
trative  of  Mr.  Hendricks's  opinion  on  many  important  issues, 
it  has  been  deemed  advisable  to  reproduce  that  speech  in 
full. 

GOVERNOR  HENDRICK&S  SPEECH  AT  INDIANAPOLIS. 

The  fortunes  of  the  Republican  party  had  become  so  desperate  at 
the  late  adjournment  of  Congress,  that  it  was  found  necessary  to  ap 
peal  to  the  people  in  a  congressional  address,  to  stand  by  the  leaders. 
The  address  was  signed  by  thirty-nine  members,  constituting  the 
congressional  committee.  General  John  Ooburn,  of  this  State,  was 
one  of  the  thirty-nine.  They  ask  to  be  continued  in  power,  and  their 
army  of  eighty  thousand  office-holders  to  be  perpetuated  on  the  pay 
rolls,  because  they  are  good  and  the  Democrats  are  bad.  And  they 
go  back  thirty  years  before  the  war  to  prove  the  latter.  I  think  no 
Indianian  had  a  right  to  sign  a  paper  saying  that  from  1830  to  1860 
there  is  hardly  a  memory  left  connected  with  the  control  of  public 
affairs  "at  which  the  nation  should  not  blush."  During  that  thirty 
years  our  population  increased  from  twelve  to  thirty-one  millions,  and 
the  wealth  and  commerce  of  the  country  correspondingly  advanced. 
The  resources  were  gradually  but  steadily  developed.  The  people 
were  prosperous,  contented,  and  happy.  You  know  that  bad  gov 
ernment  could  not  bear  sucli  fruit.  That  period  included  the  greater 
part  of  Jackson's  Administration,  which  is  yet  distinguished  for  in 
tegrity,  firmness,  and  statesmanship,  and  which  strengthened  the 
confidence  of  the  world  in  free  and  republican  institutions.  During 


SPEECH  AT  INDIANAPOLIS.  377 

that  period  Texas  was  annexed,  a  country  large  enough  for  three 
great  States ;  and  now,  after  the  public  lands  under  the  control  of 
Congress  have  heen  so  largely  granted  away,  no  portion  of  our  coun 
try  offers  greater  advantages  to  our  people,  who  need  and  seek  cheap 
homes  and  farms,  than  Texas.  That  period  includes  the  administra 
tion  of  the  Treasury  by  James  Guthrie,  of  Kentucky,  a  great  man  who 
did  not  suffer  the  loss  of  one  dollar  of  the  people's  money.  That 
generation  has  passed  away,  but  it  has  left  many  names  illustrious 
for  patriotic  devotion  to  country  and  elevated  statesmanship.  "What 
think  you  of  Jackson,  of  Benton,  and  Oass,  and  Silas  Wright,  of 
Marcy  and  Woodbury,  and  of  Douglas  ?  Did  they  not  always  and 
everywhere  vindicate  their  country's  right  and  honor ;  and  in  the 
great  contests  with  the  giants  of  the  Whig  party  were  they  not  able 
with  dignity  and  credit  to  maintain  themselves,  their  party,  and  their 
cause?  Over  them,  their  works  and  their  achievements,  this  con 
gressional  committee  of  thirty-nine,  moved  by  the  spirit  of  modest 
virtue,  and  like  the  sons  of  Noah  going  backward,  would  throw  the 
mantle  of  forgetfulness.  Who  are  the  committee  of  thirty -nine,  good 
souls  and  pure,  who  are  so  ashamed  and  would  have  the  country  blush 
for  what  our  fathers  did  ?  I  will  not  name  them  all ;  that  would  be 
too  much.  So  much  excellence  and  virtue  would  overcome  you  as  an 
excess  of  light  would  blind  you.  Chandler,  Cameron,  Conover,  of 
Florida;  Mitchell,  of  Oregon ;  Cobb,  of  Kansas;  some  delegates  from 
the  Territories  ;  and  Stewart,  of  Nevada. 

The  meeting  of  the  committee  for  a  last  reading  of  the  address 
must  have  presented  a  scene  of  thrilling  interest.  The  delicate  sen 
sibilities  of  Chandler  were  thoroughly  aroused  by  the  sentiment  that 
he  lived  in  times  of  such  elevated  purity,  and  that  he  was  not  ex 
posed  to  the  corrupt  influence  of  association  with  Andrew  Jackson. 

At  first  Mr.  Cameron  was  disturbed  by  some  obscure  reference 
to  official  integrity,  which  was  hinted  at  as  proper,  for  it  suggested 
the  disagreeable  memory  of  the  resolution  of  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives  during  the  war,  which  made  it  necessary  for  him  to  abdi 
cate  the  War  Department ;  but  when  he  perceived  the  blow  struck 
at  the  men  of  the  past  he  was  comforted,  for  they  hit  that  granite 
man,  William  L.  Marcy,  who  set  an  example  of  illiberality  and  un- 
kindness  in  that  office  in  his  conduct  of  the  Mexican  War,  in  not 
allowing  his  friends  and  partisans  to  grow  rich  off  of  the  army  and 
the  people. 

Mitchell,  of  Oregon,  had  been  a  little  unfortunate  in  coming  into 


378  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  A.   HENDRICKS. 

the  Senate  with  a  very  disagreeable  odor  about  his  character,  so 
much  so,  indeed,  that  others  were  restless  in  sitting  in  the  cham 
ber  with  him ;  but  that  was  past,  fumigatory  explanations  had  been 
made,  and  they  had  become  accustomed  to  it,  as  indeed  they  have 
lately  become  accustomed  to  a  good  many  new  things  ;  but  his  dis 
tress  on  that  account  was  forgotten  in  the  abasement  which  he  felt 
in  contemplating  so  much  above  him  the  sublime  faith  of  Stephen 
A.  Douglas  in  man's  right  and  capacity  for  self-government. 

Senator  Clayton,  of  Arkansas,  could  properly  sign  such  an  ad 
dress,  because  he  had  been  investigated  and  whitewashed,  but  I  could 
not  tell  why  the  gentle  delegates,  political  eunuchs,  from  Colorado, 
New  Mexico,  and  Arizona,  should  display  so  much  passion  toward 
the  men  of  the  past.  But  upon  reflection  I  knew  it  was  because 
they  had  seen  so  much  of  the  Indian  service  out  there,  and  so  appre 
ciated  its  purity,  its  justice  to  the  white  man,  and  its  care  for  the 
Indian,  that  they  could  not  endure  the  stern  and  positive  way  in  which 
Jackson  made  the  Indian  obey  the  authority  of  the  country,  and  the 
white  man  respect  the  rights  of  the  Indian. 

True,  the  service  has  been  unfortunate  of  late ;  it  costs  about 
$7,000,000  for  the  supplies  and  maintenance,  whereas  it  used  to  cost, 
when  the  number  was  far  greater,  but  $3,000,000.  And  if  we  in 
clude  the  military  government  and  control,  the  cost  must  be  many 
times  greater ;  and  the  misfortune  is,  that  the  Indian  is  becoming 
worse,  and  the  borders  more  insecure. 

But  if  I  am  mistaken  in  supposing  that  it  was  the  Indian  service 
which  so  moved  the  pure  minds  of  these  delegates,  then  it  must  be 
their  long  residence  in  the  city  of  Washington,  and  their  observation 
of  the  highest  development  of  their  party  in  the  government  and 
improvement  of  the  District  of  Columbia.  True,  a  terrible  and 
crushing  debt  has  been  created,  reaching  nearly  $30,000,000,  which 
Congress  will  probably  pay  out  of  the  Treasury;  and  corruption 
bore  sway,  so  that  even  the  form  of  republican  government  was 
abandoned,  and  a  Eoman  triumvirate  was  established  and  rules  the 
capital  of  the  nation.  But  what  care  these  delegates  for  all  that  ? 
They  see  the  grandeur  and  the  splendor  of  the  city,  rivaling  the  seats 
of  monarchy  in  the  Old  World,  and  they  look  with  contempt  upon 
the  cheap  and  plain  style  that  prevailed  during  the  thirty  years 
which  they  denounce.  It  may  have  been  this  feeling  that  caused 
them  to  unite  with  General  Coburn  and  the  others  in  this  sentiment 
taken  from  the  address:  "It  has  been  loudly  vaunted  that  those 


SPEECH  AT  INDIANAPOLIS.  379 

were  cheap  Administrations.  Compared  with  the  expenditures  of 
these  times,  they  were  cheap,  very  cheap.  Compared  with  their 
worth  to  the  country,  they  were  probably  the  most  profligate  the 
world  ever  saw.  They  cost  the  people  from  $50,000,000  to  $75,000,- 
000  per  annum.  Those  millions  maintained  for  us  the  empty  pageant 
we  called  government.  It  was  the  worst  pageant  that  could  be  con 
trived.  It  was  not  even  showy ;  it  was  vulgar." 

That,  it  seems,  is  clear  enough.  The  simple  and  unostentatious 
style  of  the  past  is  to  be  held  in  contempt  as  vulgar.  Then  men  la 
bored  faithfully  and  accounted  truly  in  every  public  trust ;  then  taxes 
were  low ;  and  the  laws  were  plain  and  easily  understood  ;  then  in 
fluence  and  respectability  were  sought  and  won  because  of  official 
integrity.  Some  old  men  yet  live  who  recollect  those  times.  But 
now  government  is  to  be  made  a  pageant.  A  glittering,  gaudy,  pre 
tentious,  and  parvenu?  aristocracy  is  to  take  the  place  of  a  despised 
and  crushed  Democracy.  The  people  are  to  be  made  contented  by 
brilliant  and  costly  show,  and  the  display  of  power.  By  such  a 
course  Louis  Napoleon  maintained  himself  for  a  while  upon  the 
throne  of  France,  but  his  failure  and  disgrace  came  upon  him  and 
his  people  when  the  hollow  structure  of  his  authority  was  brought 
against  the  real  power  of  a  solid  people. 

Let  us  look  at  some  of  the  specific  charges  in  the  address  against 
Democratic  rule.  "We  bullied  Austria  out  of  a  Hungarian  refugee." 
That  was  the  case  of  Martin  Koszta,  a  Hungarian  by  birth,  who  had 
emigrated  to  this  country,  had  lived  in  New  York  one  year  and 
eleven  months,  and  in  proper  form,  according  to  our  laws,  had  de 
clared  his  intention  to  become  a  citizen  of  the  United  States.  In 
1853  he  went  to  Europe  on  business,  carrying  an  authenticated  copy 
of  his  declaration,  and  intending  soon  to  return.  While  at  Smyrna, 
he  was  seized  by  the  emissaries  of  Austria  and  forcibly  taken  on  board 
the  Hussar,  an  Austrian  brig-of-war,  and  held  in  close  confinement, 
to  be  carried  back  for  punishment  by  that  cruel  government  because 
of  his  aspirations  for  liberty. 

Captain  Ingraham,  of  our  navy,  was  then  in  command  of  the 
sloop-of-war  St.  Louis,  in  the  Mediterranean,  and,  coming  to  anchor 
at  Smyrna,  was  told  by  our  consul  what  had  taken  place.  After  con 
sulting  our  representative  at  Constantinople,  he  demanded  of  the 
Austrian  commander  the  surrender  of  Koszta,  with  the  assurance 
that  he  would  bo  taken  if  not  surrendered.  He  was  surrendered, 
and  placed  under  the  protection  of  the  French  consul,  and  returned 


380  THE  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  A.   HENDRICKS. 

to  the  United  States,  and  Austria  never  laid  her  iron  hand  upon  him 
again.  For  his  gallant  and  noble  conduct,  Congress  voted  Captain 
Ingrabam  a  medal.  Mr.  Marcy,  as  Secretary  of  State,  in  a  corre 
spondence  of  extraordinary  ability,  maintained  and  vindicated  our 
country's  position  and  conduct,  and  established  public  judgment  in 
our  favor.  Do  you  regret  that  Koszta  was  not  left  an  Austrian  pris 
oner  ?  If  not,  what  think  you  of  this  charge  against  the  Democracy 
by  the  Eepublican  Congressmen  ? 

The  next  charge  is  in  these  words:  "We  despoiled  Mexico  of  a 
portion  of  her  territory."  By  treaty,  at  the  close  of  the  Mexican 
War,  we  acquired  New  Mexico  and  California ;  we  hold  them  still. 
From  the  latter  we  have  realized  untold  wealth.  But  is  it  true  that 
the  acquisition  was  not  the  result  of  legitimate  war  and  fair  treaty  ? 
that  it  was  the  act  of  force  by  the  strong  over  the  weak  ?  that  it 
was  robbery  ?  and  that  the  officers  and  soldiers  in  that  war  were 
despoilers  ?  If  that  be  so,  then,  however  proud  the  people  have 
been  of  the  achievements  of  the  soldiers,  and  of  the  magnificence  of 
the  acquisition,  ought  not  the  country  to  be  restored?  No;  the 
question  was  long  since  settled.  It  is  ours  by  legitimate  and  proper 
war  and  fair  treaty,  and  the  demand  made  that  we  should  blush 
because  of  that  war  and  its  results,  only  shows  their  inability  to 
find  real  fault  in  Democratic  Administrations. 

They  also  charge,  "We  demolished  Greytown."  That  is  true. 
It  was  in  1854.  It  was  on  the  line  of  travel  and  commerce  between 
the  Atlantic  States  and  California,  and  after  that  the  semi-barbari 
ans  and  half-clothed  savages  of  that  locality  no  more  interrupted 
our  commerce,  or  murdered  our  people. 

KEGTJLATION    OF   TEANSPOETATION. 

By  what  authority  and  in  what  manner  our  internal  commerce 
shall  be  regulated  is  a  question  of  present  and  deep  interest,  and 
party  managers  who  ask  an  indefinite  extension  of  power  should 
declare  their  policy  in  unmistakable  terms.  In  their  addresses  the 
members  of  Congress  evade  it,  except  to  say  that,  whatever  may  or 
may  not  be  expedient  to  be  done,  "  only  the  Eepublican  party  can  be 
relied  upon  to  do  it."  Why  so  ?  Has  that  party  not  been  in  power, 
both  State  and  national,  long  enough  to  have  done  something,  if  its 
leaders  were  really  in  favor  of  anything  ? 

In  respect  to  the  proposition  that  Congress  shall  build  a  double- 
track  railway  from  the  Mississippi  to  the  Atlantic,  the  congressional 


SPEECH  AT  INDIANAPOLIS.  381 

address  says,  "  This  is  worthy  of  careful  consideration."  And  in 
respect  to  the  proposed  expenditure  of  $20,000,000  per  year  by  Con 
gress  to  open  or  enlarge  several  water-channels  over  the  country, 
they  say,  "We  invite  your  earnest  and  careful  consideration  of  that 
proposal."  Can  you  tell  what  they  are  in  favor  of? 

But  their  utterances  are  yet  more  confused  in  respect  to  the  regu 
lation  of  fares  and  freights.  .Shall  it  be  under  the  control  of  the 
States  or  of  the  companies?  They  say  that  the  objections  to  State 
control  "  are  so  serious  that  it  should  not  be  embraced  if  a  better 
one  can  be  found  ;  "  that  it  would  drive  capital  from  us.  They  add, 
"  It  is  now  a  mooted  question  whether  that  price  (fare  and  freight) 
shall  be  named  by  the  company  or  by  the  people."  ...  "  It  is 
manifest  that  if  the  company  be  allowed  to  fix  the  price,  they  may 
demand  too  much.  Venders  of  all  commodities  are  very  apt  to  want 
all  they  can  get.  On  the  contrary,  if  the  people  or  their  agents  fix 
the  price  they  may  set  it  too  low.  Purchasers  are  very  apt  to  want 
commodities  as  cheap  as  they  can  be  had.  It  is  not  probable  that 
either  party  to  the  transaction  would  always  hit  upon  the  exact 
equivalent.  The  consequences  of  a  mistake  would  probably  be  found 
most  injurious  if  made  by  the  people.  If  the  company  makes  the 
mistake  and  charges  too  much,  no  one  is 'obliged  to  employ  it.  The 
producer  does  his  own  carrying  before  the  railway  is  built.  He  has 
the  perfect  right  to  do  so  after  it  is  built."  ..."  Under  favor 
able  conditions,  indeed,  the  carrier  may  demand  and  receive  more 
than  a  fair  share  of  the  profits  of  production.  Where  such  is  the 
case,  when  the  State  finds  the  producer  makes  but  ten  per  cent,  while 
the  carrier  makes  fifteen  or  twenty  per  cent.,  it  is  very  easy  and  per 
fectly  legitimate  for  it  to  say  to  the  company :  *  The  work  you  do  can 
be  done  for  less  money  ;  we  will  pay  you  for  your  road  what  it  will 
cost  to  build  such  another,  or  you  may  keep  your  road  and  we  will 
build  another.'  So  the  people  are  not  helpless  against  exorbitant 
charges.  On  the  contrary,  if  the  people  set  the  price,  and  set  it  too 
low,  the  consequence  may  be  graver." 

From  the  address  I  have  read  thus  fully  because  it  is  a  careful 
ly-prepared  appeal  to  the  people,  and  speaks  with  authority  for  the 
party.  And  now  I  ask,  "What  are  they  for  ?  What  are  they  against? 
Is  it  a  grand  government  railroad,  or  water-lines  of  communication  ? 
"Worthy  your  careful  consideration,"  is  the  answer.  This  alone 
appears  clear,  that  they  oppose  the  regulation  of  fares  and  freights 
by  public  authority,  and  favor  leaving  their  regulation  to  the  com- 


382  THE  LIFE   OF   THOMAS  A.   HENDRICKS. 

panies.  Whatever  you  think  of  the  position,  the  reasons  given  are 
vicious.  "  If  the  people  fix  the  rates  they  are  likely  to  be  too  low, 
and  capital  will  be  driven  off."  Why  so  ?  Intelligent  legislation 
would  regard  railroads  as  important  public  agencies  to  be  protected, 
if  not  encouraged.  But  they  add :  u  If  the  company  makes  the  mis 
take  and  charges  too  much,  no  one  is  obliged  to  employ  it.  The 
producer  does  his  own  carrying  before  the  railway  is  built.  He  has 
the  perfect  right  to  do  so  after  it  is  built."  That  language  in  the 
mouth  of  the  company  itself  would  be  justly  offensive.  It  does  not 
correctly  state  the  relations  between  the  companies  and  society.  The 
companies  are  created  by  law,  as  artificial  persons,  and  clothed  with 
important  privileges,  because  of  the  benefits  the  construction  and 
maintenance  of  their  roads  will  be  to  the  community.  Except  for  that, 
they  would  not  exist.  Except  for  that,  they  would  not  be  clothed 
by  law  with  that  quality  of  sovereignty  which  enables  them,  like  the 
State,  to  appropriate  private  property.  But  for  the  fact  that  they 
are  public,  and  for  the  public,  and  not  private,  they  could  not  enter 
upon,  condemn,  and  appropriate  the  lands  and  timber  of  the  citizen. 
This  view  is  in  accordance  with  legislation,  judicial  decisions,  and 
public  policy.  And  the  companies  cannot,  say  to  the  producers,  nor 
can  these  members  of  Congress  say  for  them,  "If  the  fares  and 
freights  are  too  high,  you  can  carry  your  own  produce  to  market  as 
you  used  to  do."  The  public  corporation  must  serve  the  public  at 
reasonable  charges.  That  is  the  purpose  of  its  existence,  and-  the 
advantage  of  the  members  is  but  an  incident.  Highways,  whether 
rail  or  gravel,  might  be  made  by  the  State  directly,  and  in  every 
respect  would  be  under  State  control.  The  public  corporation,  created 
to  build  and  maintain  such  highway,  stands,  in  respect  to  its  powers 
and  its  duties,  in  the  place  of  the  State.  It  is  a  creature  of  the  State, 
endowed  with  a  part  of  its  powers,  to  serve  the  public.  And  if  such 
a  corporation  refuses  to  serve  the  public  at  reasonable  rates,  the  State 
may  compel  such  service.  I  suppose  the  rule  in  respect  to  a  private 
corporation  would  be  different.  In  this  I  do  not  refer  to  the  case  in 
which  the  State  may  have  expressly  relinquished  the  control  to  the 
corporation  itself.  In  this  State,  the  power  is  expressly  reserved  to 
amend  the  general  laws  under  which  railroad  companies  have  been 
organized  since  1853. 

If  possible,  the  other  remedy  against  exorbitant  charges,  suggest 
ed  by  the  congressional  address,  is  more  objectionable.  It  is,  that  the 
State  shall  buy  the  road  from  the  company,  or  build  another  road  by 


SPEECH  AT  INDIANAPOLIS.  383 

its  side.  It  is  not  probable  that  the  people  of  Indiana  will  ever  again 
permit  the  State  to  enter  npon  the  hazardous  work  of  constructing  or 
managing  works  of  internal  improvements.  The  reliable  remedy  is 
to  be  found  in  the  wise  and  prudent  exercise  of  the  powers  which  the 
State  has  over  her  own  institutions. 

Under  the  pretext  of  regulating  commerce  among  the  States,  the 
dangerous  scheme  has  been  devised  of  congressional  intervention  and 
control  over  State  corporations.  The  real  purpose  is  to  strengthen 
Federal  authority,  and  promote  the  concentration  of  poAver.  Can 
you  conceive  a  scheme  of  greater  danger  to  the  reserved  rights  of  the 
States  and  of  the  people  ?  These  corporations  exist  by  State  author 
ity,  and  their  powers  are  defined  by  State  laws,  which  Congress  has 
no  right  to  modify.  Should  Congress,  by  commissioners  to  be  ap 
pointed  by  the  President,  take  the  management  of  railroads  and  lines 
of  telegraph,  every  person  in  the  employment  of  the  companies  will, 
to  some  extent,  be  made  dependent  upon  this  new  power,  and  made 
to  do  its  bidding.  Give  this  new  power,  this  enormous  patronage  to 
the  President,  and  the  problem  of  the  nomination  for  the  third  term  is 
settled.  Can  you  estimate  the  corruption  it  would  produce  ?  Sena 
tors  Morton  and  Pratt  both  advocate  the  appointment  of  commission 
ers  with  power  to  fix  the  fares  and  freights.  They  concede  that  the 
same  rates  cannot  be  adopted  for  all  the  roads ;  that  they  must  be 
adjusted  according  to  cost  of  construction  and  repairs,  and  amount  of 
business,  etc.  Who  will  be  the  commissioners  with  such  powers  to 
regulate  rates  as  between  the  companies  themselves  and  between 
them  and  the  people?  With  tne  President's  capacity  for  bringing 
into  office  men  not  known  to  the  country,  we  might  expect  a  new 
Sanborn,  an  unheard-of  Eichardson,  a  Tennessee  Murphy,  a  Sawyer, 
and  a  Shepherd. 

Their  brilliant  passage  from  road  to  road  in  the  palace-cars  of  the 
companies,  as  they  inspect,  and  judge,  and  adjust  the  rates,  will  never 
be  forgotten  by  the  people.  The  scenes  will  be  gay  and  festive,  for 
the  officers  of  the  companies  will  know  that  millions  will  depend  upon 
the  decisions.  And  when  they  come  to  decide  between  the  interests 
of  the  corporations  on  the  one  hand  and  the  modest  rights  of  the  farm 
ers  on  the  other,  how  do  you  think  the  case  will  go  ?  It  will  be  no 
case  at  all.  The  Credit  Mobilier  was  a  modest  .and  retiring  cyprian 
compared  with  this  brazen-faced  harlot.  It  was  a  strange  coinci 
dence  that  the  Credit  Mobilier  overcame  men  of  only  one  class,  with 
but  a  single  exception.  They  were  good  men,  and  to  be  trusted,  and 


384  THE  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  A.    HENDRICKS. 

not  like  the  Democrats,  bad.    The  people  are  nearly  done  with  such 
trash  and  deception. 

To  secure  a  fair  management  of  railroads  and  a  just  rate  of  trans 
portation,  are  the  farmers  and  mechanics  not  safer  in  the  hands  of  their 
immediate  representatives  in  the  State  Legislature  than  in  the  hands 
of  Congress,  or  of  such  commissioners?  The  responsibilitj  of  the 
people  is  more  direct,  and  the  representatives  are  more  in  your  sym 
pathy,  and  corrupting  influences  are  less  powerful.  The  Credit  Mobi- 
lier  grew  out  of  a  congressional  enterprise.  Within  the  past  three 
years  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  was  able  in  Congress  to  make  its  own 
selections  of  extensive  and  valuable  ground  in  the  city  of  "Washington 
over  a  powerful  opposition.  The  Central  Pacific  Railroad  came  very 
near  carrying  through  Congress  a  grant  of  an  island  of  immense  value 
in  the  harbor  of  San  Francisco,  although  it  was  of  the  highest  impor 
tance  to  the  Government  for  military  purposes,  and  was  so  reported 
by  the  army  engineers.  Home  interests  are  safest  under  home  man 
agement.  The  proceeding  to  regulate  the  relations  between  the  rail 
road  corporations  and  the  producers  by  Washington  City  commission 
ers  would  present  the  spectacle  of  the  jury  eating  and  drinking  in 
the  dining-hall  of  the  rich  defendant,  while  the  poorer  suitor,  in  his 
humble  home,  bewails  his  unequal  fortune. 

FINANCE. 

The  expression  in  favor  of  a  return  to  specie  payments  is  very 
general,  but  the  real  question  is,  When  and  how  can  that  be  accom 
plished  ?  So  long  as  the  supply  of  coin  is  so  small  as  compared  with 
the  paper-money,  it  is  impossible.  The  effort  now  would  probably 
result  in  commercial  disaster.  The  people  so  believe.  No  sentiment 
attributed  to  Mr.  Greeley  in  1872  was  more  hurtful  to  his  political 
fortunes  than  the  demand  for  immediate  specie  payments.  To  render 
it  possible,  without  hurt  to  the  country,  coin  and  paper  must  come 
nearer  together  in  quantity..  They  will  then  be  nearer,  if  not  uni 
form,  in  value.  How  shall  that  be  brought  about  ?  By  reducing  the 
paper  currency  ?  With  the  present  burden  of  national,  State,  and  lo 
cal  taxation,  and  the  large  volume  of  other  indebtedness  to  be  pro 
vided  for,  that  cannot  be  borne.  It  would  cramp  business  and  par 
alyze  labor.  No  one  desires  a  return  to  specie  payments  more  ear 
nestly  than  myself,  for  I  believe  gold  and  silver  are  the  real  standard 
of  values,  universal  and  permanent.  As  I  had  occasion  once  before 
to  say,  the  existence  of  commercial  mediums  of  different  values,  one 


SPEECH  AT  INDIANAPOLIS  385 

description  of  money  for  one  class  and  purpose,  and  another  for  a  dif 
ferent  class  and  purpose,  is  too  serious  an  evil  to  be  long  endured. 
All  the  money  of  the  country  should  be  of  uniform  value  and  readily 
convertible.  But  we  are  not  in  that  condition.  Our  paper-money 
exceeds  the  coin  by  nearly  five  dollars  to  one.  How  shall  we  bring 
them  nearer  together  in  quantity,  that  they  may  approach  and  meet 
in  value  ?  Shall  we  commence  at  the  top  and  tear  down,  or  at  the 
bottom  and  build  up  ?  Business,  enterprise,  and  labor,  every  impor 
tant  interest  of  the  country,  demand  that  the  volume  of  the  currency 
be  maintained  to  meet  their  requirements ;  but  every  interest  will  be 
strengthened  by  increasing  the  supply  of  coin.  How  is  that  to  be 
accomplished  ?  By  encouraging  an  increased  production  of  our  great 
staples  that  command  the  foreign  market ;  by  reducing  our  expendi 
tures  in  foreign  purchases ;  and  by  reversing  the  fatal  policy  which 
has  sought  to  make  our  debt  a  foreign  debt.  When  we  purchase  less 
of  foreign  goods  and  sell  more  of  our  productions  abroad,  and  cease 
to  pay  so  much  of  the  interest  on  our  debt  abroad  and  pay  it  to  our 
own  citizens,  the  current  of  gold  will  turn  toward  our  shores ;  and 
then  specie  payments  will  be  certain,  natural,  and  permanent,  and 
will  become  the  basis  of  an  enduring  prosperity. 

The  declaration  in  our  State  platform,  that  the  five-twenty  bonds 
should  be  paid  in  Treasury  notes,  has  attracted  much  attention.  The 
subject,  for  some  years,  has  not  been  considered  by  the  people.  In 
1868,  when  it  was  a  living  and  a  practical  question,  I  thought,  and  so 
attempted  to  maintain,  that  the  laws  under  which  the  bonds  and 
greenbacks  were  issued  allowed  the  payment  in  the  latter.  I  have  no 
doubt  the  laws  admitted  that  construction  ;  that  it  was  the  proper 
construction.  And  I  think  no  subsequent  legislation  should  have 
changed  the  mode  of  payment.  But  by  the  first  act  which  President 
Grant  signed  in  1869  the  faith  and  honor  of  the  country  are  pledged 
to  the  payment  in  gold.  That  was  an  act  not  required  by  any  cir 
cumstances  in  the  condition  of  our  affairs ;  it  was  a  special  favor  to 
the  holders  of  the  bonds,  to  which  they  were  not  entitled  ;  and  it  was 
a  corresponding  wrong  to  the  tax-payers.  Under  it  many  millions  of 
premium  have  been  paid  which  the  contract  did  not  authorize.  But 
the  present  question  is,  What  is  the  effect  of  the  act  of  1869,  pledging 
payment  in  gold  ?  Upon  that  question  I  have  no  doubts.  Congress 
passed  it,  and  the  President  approved  and  signed  it.  They  had  the 
constitutional  power.  The  people  had  elected  them  upon  an  equivo 
cal  platform,  and  their  acts  within  the  sphere  of  their  power  bind  the 
17 


386  THE   LIFE   OF  THOMAS  A.   HENDRICKS. 

people.  Millions  of  the  bonds  have  since  been  sold,  and  the  pur 
chasers  must  be  paid  in  accordance  with  the  pledge  given.  If  my 
neighbor  holds  my  note  for  money  to  which  I  have  a  complete  defense 
in  law,  as  that  it  was  given  without  any  consideration,  or  that  it  was 
obtained  by  fraud,  and  I  say  to  another  neighbor  who  contemplates 
purchasing  it,  that  it  is  right  and  will  be  paid,  and,  relying  upon  that 
statement,  he  does  purchase  it,  I  cannot  withdraw  that  statement.  It 
binds  me,  into  whatever  hands  the  note  may  subsequently  pass.  It 
is  because  my  assurance  induced  him  to  buy  the  note,  and  it  would 
be  a  fraud  upon  the  holder  to  allow  me  to  set  up  any  defense  which 
existed  at  the  time  I  made  it.  A  lower  standard  cannot  be  set  up 
for  the  Government  than  that  which  measures  the  rights  and  liabili 
ties  of  individuals.  It  is  because  the  act  of  1869  is  thus  binding  that 
it  was  so  grievous  a  wrong  upon  the  people.  The  party  which  did  it 
should  be  held  politically  responsible.  This  question  is  rapidly  losing 
practical  importance,  for  the  bonds  have  been  converted  in  large 
quantities  and  are  now  being  converted  into  five  per  cents.,  carrying 
the  promise  of  payment  in  gold  upon  their  face.  That  is  one  of  the 
wrongs  resulting  from  the  act  of  1869. 

THE   CIVIL-EIGHTS   BILL. 

We  had  been  led  to  hope  that  the  questions  and  controversies  be 
tween  the  white  and  black  races  had  been  finally  and  definitely  set 
tled.  By  law  they  had  been  placed  upon  terms  of  equality  in  respect 
to  personal  and  political  rights,  and  it  was  supposed  that  control  of 
the  social  relations  would  not  be  undertaken,  but  we  were  mistaken. 
Tnere  is  pending  in  the  House  a  Senate  bill,  which  assumes  the  right 
to  regulate  the  schools,  public  conveyances,  etc.,  in  the  States,  and  to 
declare  by  whom  and  upon  what  terms  they  shall  be  enjoyed.  These 
have  always  been  held  to*  be  domestic  institutions  and  subject  only  to 
State  control.  This  is  another  effort  to  concentrate  power. 

If  Congress,  upon  any  pretense,  may  prescribe  who  shall  be  ad 
mitted  to  the  schools,  may  it  not,  on  the  same  pretense,  go  further 
and  prescribe  the  terms  and  regulate  the  treatment  of  the  scholars 
in  the  schools,  and  do  whatever  may  be  desired  to  preserve  a  sup 
posed  equality?  And  the  pretense  under  which  Congress  compels 
admission  to  hotels  and  places  of  amusement  will  go  further,  and 
regulate  the  treatment  after  being  admitted,  for  equality  may  require 
that  too.  Thus  we  will  have  a  usurpation  of  power  in  Congress  to 


SPEECH  AT  INDIANAPOLIS.  387 

regulate  the  most  interesting  and  delicate  of  our  domestic  affairs.    It 
is  an  assumption — a  usurpation.     There  is  no  such  power.     Our  con 
stitutional  amendments  do  not  confer  it.     Our  common  schools,  in 
their  control  and  management,  should  be  kept  as  near  to  the  families 
as  possible.     This  movement  is  another  and  dangerous  effort  to  con 
centrate  power.     It  can  do  neither  race  any  good,  and  will  probably^ 
harm  both.     The  races  are  not  alike,  and  their  amalgamation  is  un-  \ 
natural  and  offensive  to  the  better  classes  of  both.     I  suppose,  if  left      \ 
to  their  own  judgment  and  wish,  the  colored  people  would  be  con 
tent  to  associate  together.     Are  they  not  willing  that  their  children     J 
shall  go  to  school  together  ?    Why  not?   "Full  and  sufficient  provision 
should  be  made  for  their  education,  as  ample  as  for  the  whites.     It 
is  so  now  in  all  our  cities,  I  believe,  and  will  soon  be  so  throughout 
the  State.      Let  us  protect  free  education  throughout  the  country 
from  this  dangerous  blow.      Our  Senators  supported  the  measure. 
Mr.  Pratt  now  seeks  a  reelection.    To  show  you  the  spirit  influencing 
him,  I  will  read  an  extract  from  his  speech  made  in  the  Senate  the 
20th  of  last  May  : 

"  It  has  seemed  to  me  a  most  surprising  thing  that  people  who 
declaim  against  what  they  call  negro  equality  are  never  heard  to  I 
start  any  objection  to  admission  to  fullest  rights  of  citizenship  of 
the  foreigner,  though  he  be  ignorant  to  the  last  degree,  a  pauper,  or  j 
a  criminal,  unacquainted  with  our  laws  and  not  capable  even  of  speak-  I 
ing  our  language.     More  than  the  third  of  a  million  of  immigrants  \ 
from  every  country  of  Europe  annually  land  upon  our  shores  and  are/ 
-heartily  welcomed  to  the  privileges  of  citizenship,  with  whom  it  is1' 
not  unfair  to  say  the  negro  population  of  this  country  will  bear 
favorable  comparison  in  all  the  elements  that  go  to  make  useful 
citizens." 

SOUTIIEEN    TEOTIBLES. 

It  is  now  so  noticeable  a  fact  that  no  one  can  fail  to  see  it,  that 
immediately  preceding  the  important  elections  troubles  are  excited 
between  the  whites  and  blacks  in  the  South.  It  has  two  effects.  It 
is  made  the  pretext  for  sending  troops  into  the  Southern  States  and 
controlling  the  elections  for  the  radicals;  and  it  is  used  in  the  North 
to  arouse  radical  passion,  and  thus  carry  the  elections  there.  Now, 
as  these  are  the  only  results  that  can  follow,  who  does  it?  The  emis 
saries  of  the  party  that  makes  a  gain  by  it. 

My  countrymen,  we  must  look  squarely  and  honestly  at  this  ques 
tion  of  the  strife  between  the  two  races. 


388  THE  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  A.   HENDRICKS. 

During  the  war,  when  the  Southern  men  were  off  in  the  field, 
there  were  no  insurrections.  The  colored  people  preserved  the  peace 
at  home.  After  the  close  of  the  war  there  was  harmony  between 
the  races  until  your  unfortunate  policy  of  reconstruction  was  started. 
In  that  you  undertook  to  base  the  machinery  of  society  upon  one 
element,  and  to  exclude  intelligence.  You  stripped  the  white  man  of 
political  privileges,  and  clothed  the  negro  with  political  power.  The 
races  had  been  harmonious ;  but  at  once,  and  for  a  purpose,  you 
placed  them  in  hostile  attitude.  You  left  many  of  the  hangers-on  of 
the  army  in  the  South ;  men  who  went  not  to  fight,  but  to  plunder. 
They  were  your  emissaries ;  they  organized  the  negroes  into  a  politi 
cal  party.  In  every  neighborhood  they  formed  them  into  oath-bound 
secret  societies,  called  Loyal  Leagues.  They  were  sworn  to  stand  to 
gether.  In  these  societies,  from  which  the  Southern  white  man  was 
excluded,  they  were  taught  to  regard  the  white  men  as  their  enemies, 
and  that  they  would  soon  receive  their  property.  Thus  they  were 
arrayed  in  antagonism  to  the  whites.  The  work  was  done  thorough 
ly,  and  by  it  you  held  political  power  in  many  States.  But  those 
States  are  crushed  and  ruined  now.  We  cannot,  we  must  not,  go  on 
in  this  direction.  The  welfare  of  our  country  calls  for  a  change. 
Men  must  be  placed  in  power  who  will  relieve  society  from  these 
dangerous  influences ;  who  will  stand  honestly  between  the  two  races, 
and  see  to  it  that  each  is  fairly  and  fully  protected  in  its  rights ;  who 
will  see  that  harmony,  based  upon  justice,  is  restored,  so  that  labor 
shall  be  secure,  and  capital  shall  not  be  afraid. 

The  South  is  now  being  covered  with  troops.  If  General  Grant 
would  investigate  for  himself,  I  would  not  fear  the  result.  In  many 
respects  I  admire  him.  He  is  a  man  of  great  ability,  and  does  not 
hate  people  merely  because  they  oppose  his  corrupt  party.  Two 
years  ago  I  said  that  we  were  fighting  the  "  King  "  that  controlled  him 
more"  than  the  President  himself,  and  now  we  have  to  fear  the  bad 
influences  that  surround  him.  He  will  not  investigate.  He  will  take 
his  information  from  the  most  malignant  man  in  the  country,  the  At 
torney-General.  The  men  who  are  maintaining  such  baleful  authority 
in  the  South  crawl  into  the  office  of  the  Attorney-General,  and  do  their 
work.  It  is  a  dreadful  thing  that  our  army  must  be  used  to  perpetu 
ate  a  rule  so  hurtful  to  the  whole  country,  such  as  prevails  in  South 
Carolina,  Florida,  Mississippi,  and  Louisiana.  Whole  communities 
and  the  business  and  production  of  the  country  are  being  played  upon 
for  political  results.  The  welfare  of  the  country  calls  for  a  change. 


SPEECH  AT  INDIANAPOLIS.  389 

Let  the  sentiment  be  felt  everywhere,  from  the  palace  of  the  capital 
ist  to  the  cabin  of  the  negro,  that  complete  and  exact  justice  shall 
prevail,  and  then  all  will  once  more  bow  to  public  authority.  It  was 
so  once ;  it  may  be  so  again.  The  party  in  power  has  failed.  Let 
us  not  be  led  by  hate  to  utter  ruin. 

PUBLIC   LANDS,    FOKEIGN   POSTAGE,    ETC. 

The  congressional  address  says,  "  Since  the  advent  of  the  Bepub- 
lican  party,  the  finishing  touches  have  been  given  to  our  land  system." 
That  is  nearly  true.  There  may  not  be  much  more  to  grant.  But 
Senator  Pratt  claims  for  his  party  the  credit  of  the  homestead  policy. 
That  measure  was  not  carried  by  the  votes  of  either  party ;  it  was 
supported  by  men  of  both  parties.  But  Andrew  Johnson,  whom 
they  sought  to  impeach,  was  the  real  author  of  the  measure.  He 
was  its  earliest  and  persistent  advocate  in  Congress  before  the  birth 
of  the  Kepublican  party.  I  understand  that  Senator  Pratt  also  claims 
for  his  party  the  credit  of  securing  the  full  right  of  naturalization 
and  its  recognition  by  European  countries,  and  also  the  credit  of 
cheap  foreign  postage. 

How  can  he  make  such  a  claim  ?  These  important  and  valuable 
measures  were  not  secured  by  legislation,  but  by  treaties — and  the 
leading  treaties  were  negotiated  by  Andrew  Johnson,  at  a  time  when 
he  was  opposed  by  the  party  ;  when  the  party  hatred  of  him  was  so 
great  that  it  pursued  him  by  wicked  impeachment.  I  voted  to  ratify 
the  important  treaties  of  that  class.  Senator  Pratt  was  not  then  in 
the  Senate. 

FKATJDTJLENT    APPOINTMENT. 

I  will  ask  your  attention  to  some  questions  more  immediately  af 
fecting  our  State.  At  a  special  session  of  the  Legislature  of  1872,  an 
unjust  and  wicked  law  was  passed  dividing  the  State  into  senatorial 
and  representative  districts.  It  was  done  to  enable  the  party  to  hold 
political  power  in  the  Legislature  against  the  majority  of  the  people. 
Governor  Baker  would  not  sign  it.  No  man  ought  to  have  voted  for 
it.  They  now  propose  to  appropriate  and  use  the  advantages  of  the 
crime  by  securing  the  reelection  of  Senator  Pratt.  The  history  of 
such  nefarious  efforts  has  generally  been  that  they  turn  against  the 
guilty  party.  How  shall  it  be  now  ?  "Will  the  people  of  Indiana  be 
come  a  direct  party  to  it  by  so  voting  as  to  give  them  the  benefit  of 
the  wrong  ?  Let  us  see. 

That  my  motives  may  not  be  misunderstood  in  what  it  is  my  duty 


390  THE   LIFE   OF  THOMAS   A.   HEND  RICKS. 

to  say  upon  this  subject,  I  wish  to  assure  you  that  in  no  event  can  I 
have  any  personal  interest  in  it.  I  am  not  and  will  not  be  a  candi 
date  for  the  United  States  Senate.  I  did  not  want  to  be  a  candidate 
for  Governor,  as  many  of  you  know,  but  I  have  accepted  the  office,  and 
intend  to  hold  it  during  the  term. 

As  we  all  have  to  obey  the  laws,  it  is  fair  and  right,  and  by  all  hon 
orable  men  recognized  as  fair  and  right,  that  we  shall  have  an  equal 
voice  in  making  the  laws.  But  deeming  it  possible  that,  for  party 
gains,  some'  men  might  reject  this  sentiment  of  justice  and  right,  our 
constitution  has  provided  that  the  apportionment  of  senators  and  rep 
resentatives  among  the  counties  shall  be  according  to  the  numbers  of 
the  voting  population,  to  be  ascertained  by  an  enumeration  every 
sixth  year. 

The  oath  of  the  legislator  to  obey  the  constitution  is,  in  this  re 
spect,  only  to  do  what  is  just  and  right. 

The  enumeration  next  before  the  passage  of  this  law  made  the 
voting  population  of  the  State  to  be  379,088.  The  entire  vote  in  Oc 
tober,  1872,  just  before  the  law  passed,  was  377,819.  The  difference 
between  the  enumeration  and  the  vote  was  only  1,269.  I  will  test 
the  law  by  a  comparison  of  the  apportionment  to  the  counties,  with 
their  vote. 

The  entire  vote  of  the  State,  377,819,  apportioned  among  one  hun 
dred  representatives  and  fifty  senators,  would  give  one  representative 
to  3,778,  and  one  senator  to  7,556  voters. 

Lake  County,  with  a  vote  of  2,444,  which  is  1,324  below  the  rep 
resentative  ratio,  has  one  representative. 

Porter,  with  a  vote  of  2,977,  which  is  801  below  the  ratio,  has 
one  representative. 

Steuben,  with  a  vote  of  2,793,  which  is  985  below  the  ratio,  has 
one  representative. 

Lagrange,  with  a  vote  of  2,867,  which  is  911  below  the  ratio,  has 
one  representative. 

Jennings,  with  a  vote  of  3,434,  which  is  333  below  the  ratio,  has 
one  representative. 

Yermilion,  with  a  voteof  2,245,  which  is  1,533  below  the  ratio, 
has  one  representative. 

Warren,  with  a  vote  of  2,490,  which  is  1,288  below  the  ratio,  has 
one  representative. 

Lawrence,  with  a  vote  of  3,569,  which  is  209  below  the  ratio,  has 
one  representative. 


SPEECH  AT  INDIANAPOLIS.  391 

Monroe,  with  a  vote  of  3,216,  which  is  562  below  the  ratio,  has 
one  representative. 

And  Benton  and  Newton  together,  with  a  vote  of  2,935,  which  is 
843  below  the  ratio,  have  one  representative. 

These  eleven  counties  are  strongly  Republican,  giving  an  aggregate 
Republican  'majority  of  4,592,  but  they  lack  8,799  votes  to  entitle 
them  to  the  ten  representatives  given  them. 

There  are  seven  other  counties  which  fall  below  the  ratio  in  their 
vote,  and  are  allowed  each  a  representative,  but  the  aggregate  defi 
ciency  is  less  than  one  representative  apportionment. 

Bartholomew  is  a  Democratic  county,  with  a  population  of  4,761, 
which  was  983  more  than  enough  for  a  representative,  but  she  was 
allowed  none.  Brown  County  is  Democratic,  with  a  total  vote  of 
1,633.  She  was  allowed  no  representative ;  but  she  and  Bartholomew 
constitute  one  representative  district,  with  an  entire  vote  of  6,394, 
being  an  excess  of  2,616  over  the  ratio  of  representation,  and  such 
excess  being  more  than  the  entire  vote  of  either  Lake,  Vermilion,  or 
Warren,  each  of  which  has  a  representative. 

Bartholomew  is  denied  a  separate  representation,  while  Lawrence, 
with  1,192  less  votes,  Monroe,  with  1,545  less  votes,  Vermilion,  with 
2,516  less  votes.  Warren,  with  2,671  less  votes,  Lake,  with  2,317  less 
votes,  Porter,  with  1,784  less  votes,  Lagrange,  with  1,894  less  votes, 
and  Steuben,  with  1,968  less  votes,  have  each  a  representative ;  and 
Jennings,  an  adjoining  county,  with  1,327  less,  has  a  separate  repre 
sentative  and  a  representative  j-ointly  with  Jefferson  and  Scott ;  Deca- 
tur,  with  355  less,  and  Rush,  with  692  less,  and  Ripley,  with  455  less 
votes,  have  each  a  representative  and  one  jointly ;  Grant,  with  408  less, 
has  one  representative  and  one  jointly  with  Blackford ;  Delaware, 
with  461  less  votes,  has  one  representative  and  one  jointly  with  Jay ; 
and  Hamilton,  with  but  five  more  votes,  has  one  representative  and 
one  jointly  with  Tipton. 

Wells,  a  Democratic  county,  has  3,006  votes,  being  554  more  than 
Lake,  210  more  than  Steuben,  755  more  than  Vermilion,  and  513 
more  than  Warren,  is  allowed  no  separate  representative,  while  each 
of  the  others  has  one.  Wells  and  Adams,  Democratic  counties,  are 
joined  for  one  representative.  Their  aggregate  vote  is  5,137,  being 
1,400  more  than  the  representative  ratio.  Brown  and  Bartholomew, 
with  6,214  votes,  and  Lake,  with  2,444,  have  the  same  representation, 
which  gives  two  men  in  Lake  more  than  the  vote  and  political  power 
of  five  men  in  either  Bartholomew  or  Brown.  It  is  so  also  in  Ver- 


392  THE  LIFE   OF  THOMAS   A.   HENDRICKS. 

milion  and  Warren,  and  nearly  so  in  Porter,  Steuben,  and  La- 
grange. 

The  wrong  is  equally  great  in  the  Senate.  Posey  and  Gibson, 
with  8,177  voters,  have  one  senator,  and  Lake  and  Porter,  with  5,421 
voters,  have  a  senator. 

Dearborn  and  Franklin,  strongly  Democratic,  with  9,404,  have  a 
senator,  and  Elkhart,  with  but  5,892  voters,  has  a  senator. 

Jefferson,  with  but  5,405,  has  a  senator,  while  Clark  and  Floyd 
together,  with  10,278  voters,  have  but  one.  Shelby  and  Johnson, 
with  9,024  voters,  have  a  senator,  and  Parke  and  Vermilion,  with 
but  6,164,  have  one  senator. 

Adams  and  Wells,  with  unequal  representation  in  the  House,  have 
no  senator,  except  with  Allen  in  a  district  of  14,989. 

Randolph,  with  but  5,014,  has  one  senator,  and  Putnam  and  Hen- 
dricks,  with  9,357,  have  one,  which  is  controlled  by  the  Republican 
majority  of  Hendricks.  Bartholomew  and  Brown,  with  6,394  votes, 
have  one  representative  and  one  senator,  while  Lake  and  Porter, 
with  but  5,421  votes,  have  two  representatives  and  one  senator. 
Why  should  one  voter  in  Lake,  Vermilion,  Steuben,  or  Lagrange, 
have  a  voice  in  making  the  laws  more  than  equal  to  two  in  Brown, 
Bartholomew,  Adams,  or  Wells?  Why  shall  these  counties  have  so 
much  more  voice  in  proportion  to  numbers  than  Shelby  or  Johnson, 
Dearborn  or  Franklin?  Is  it  because  that  same  year  Bartholomew 
was  taxed  upon  more  than  nine  million,  Johnson  more  than  ten  and 
one  half  million,  and  Shelby  more  than  ten  and  a  quarter  million, 
and  Dearborn  and  Franklin  each  more  than  eight  million  dollars; 
while  Lake  was  but  three  million  six  hundred  thousand ;  Vermilion 
four  million  four  hundred  thousand ;  and  Steuben  loss  than  three 
million  ? 

I  do  not  wish  to  be  understood  as  saying  that  this  apportionment 
may  be  changed  by  the  next  Legislature.  I  think  it  is  a  grave  ques 
tion  Whether  it  must  not  stand  until  another  enumeration  is  made  at 
the  expiration  of  six  years  from  the  last,  as  required  by  the  consti 
tution.  But  the  people  may  and  should  rebuke  the  outrage  as  a  blow 
at  popular  representation  and  republican  government.  They  should 
rebuke  it  by  defeating  its  purpose,  by  preventing  the  misrepresenta 
tion  intended.  It  is  a  gratification  to  me  that,  in  my  first  address  to 
the  people  as  a  candidate  in  1872,  in  the  expectation  that  the  Legis 
lature  would  be  Democratic,  I  said:  "  It  will  be  the  duty  of  the  Leg 
islature  to  redistrict  the  State  for  legislative  and  congressional  pur- 


SPEECH  AT  INDIANAPOLIS.  393 

poses.    Not  only  the  constitution,  but  just  and  honest  representation, 
requires  that  the  apportionment  shall  be  made  among  the  counties 
according  to  their  .voting  population.     It  is  a"  shame  if  the  people 
allow  the  adjustment  of  representation  to  be  made  upon  any  other 
basis.     It  is  an  aggravated  fraud  if  some  counties  be  allowed  more, 
and  other  counties  less,  than  their  proportion  of  senators  and  repre 
sentatives  because  of  the  political  opinions  of   their  people.     The 
apportionment  of  1867  was  thus  tainted.     Should  the  men  who  sup 
port  me  this  year  have  the  control  of  the  Legislature,  I  hope  they 
will  be  governed  by  the  -constitution  and  justice  only  in  making  the 
new  apportionment,  for  it  is  right,  and  it  will  prove  politically  expe 
dient  and  wise.     For  that  my  labor  and  my  influence  shall  be  given." 
I  think  you  know  that  the  corrupting  sentiment  has  been  growing, 
that  unfair  advantages  are  right  in  politics,  and  that  private  gain  may 
be  made  of  political  success.     I  think  you  know  that  from  that  senti 
ment  the  corruption  has  come  which  is  undermining  our  institutions. 
Then,  need  I  specify  the  large  sums  of  money  of  which  the  people 
were  defrauded  by  the  Sanborn  contracts,  by  the  Credit  Mobilier,  by 
the  New  York  Custom-House  frauds,  so  hurtful  to  our  commerce,  and 
so  wrong  to  the  merchants?     Need  I  speak  of  the  great  fortunes 
built  upon  the  District  of  Columbia  corruption,  and  of  the  scores  of 
investigations  which  the  clamor  of  an  outraged  people  compelled  ? 
.  Need  I  mention  that  for  all  these  none  of  the  guilty  parties  have  been 
punished  save  only  one  old  man  expelled  from  the  House ;  while 
others  have  been  rewarded  by  and  now  hold  high  and  lucrative 
office?     Why  is  it  not  enough  to-  turn  to  this  unparalleled  legislative 
fraud  in  our  own  State?     Would  you  again  trust  a  man  who  would 
corruptly  wrong  even  an  enemy  ?     Would  you  employ  him  in  your 
store,  or  office,  or  shop,  or  on  your  farm  ?     Then  how  can  you  trust 
the  affairs  of  Government  in  the  hands  of  a  party  which  requires  its 
legislators  to  despoil  a  part  of  the  people  of  their  rights,  and  to  be 
stow  them  upon  others  ?     Do  they  not  all  equally  pay  taxes,  and 
bear  the  public  burdens?     Why,  then,  shall  some  be  robbed  of  their 
rights  as  citizens  ?     The  industries  and  resources  of  the  country  will 
restore  the  millions  lost  by  the  frauds  and  corruptions  to  which  I  have 
referred  ;  but  who  shall  restore  to  the  people  of  many  counties  their 
lost  privilege  and  right  of  an  equal  voice  in  making  the  laws  which 
all  must  obey  ? 

LEGISLATIVE    EXPENSES. 

I  will  detain  you  to  speak  only  of  one  other  characteristic  of  the 


394  THE   LIFE   OF   THOMAS  A.    HENDRICKS. 

last  Legislature.  I  speak  of  its  own  extravagance  in  the  use  of  the 
public  money.  The  general  and  special  sessions  continued  one  hun 
dred  and  one  days,  and  the  expenses  were  $19,9,563.32,  as  appears 
by  the  report  of  Mr.  Glover,  as  Treasurer  of  the  State,  page  10.  That 
includes  only  legislative  expenses.  It  was  at  the  rate  of  $1,976  per 
day.  The  Legislature  of  1871  was  in  session  only  fifty-three  days. 
The  important  measures  and  business  of  the  session  were  defeated  by 
the  resignation  of  Eepublicans  in  the  House,  so  as  to  destroy  the 
quorum,  and  thus  stop  business.  The  breaking  up  of  the  Legislature 
was  revolutionary  in  its  character,  and  not  justified  by  any  public 
consideration,  or  sufficient  reason  in  the-  condition  t  of  its  business. 
That  proceeding  made  the  session  of  1871  only  fifty-three  days,  and 
the  expenses  were  $82,520,  as  appears  by  Mr.  Ryan's  report,  page  9. 
That  was  at  the  rate  of  $1,557  per  day,  and  was  $419  less  per  day 
than  the  expenses  of  the  Legislature  of  1873.  But  it  is  proper  to 
add  that  the  pay  of  members  of  the  Legislature  was  increased  at  the 
special  session  from  five  to  eight  dollars  per  day.  That  increase  of 
three  dollars  per  day,  for  one  hundred  representatives  and  fifty 
senators,  was  $450  per  day,  but  applied  only  to  the  regular  session 
of  sixty-one  days.  It  amounted  to  $27,450,  and,  deducting  that  from 
the  $199,563,  leaves  $172,113  as  the  expenses  of  the  one  hundred  and 
one  days,  excluding  increased  pay,  or  $1,704  per  day,  which  was  $147 
per  day,  excluding  increased  pay,  more  than  the  Democratic  Legisla-  . 
ture  two  years  before. 

TEMPERANCE    LEGISLATION. 

I  think  the  Democracy  on  the  13th  of  October  are  expected  to 
declare  in  plain  terms  what  legislation  you  approve  in  regard  to  the 
sale  of  intoxicating  liquors.  My  official  duty  places  me  in  a  respon 
sible  relation  to  this  subject.  I  signed  the  law  now  in  force  known  as 
the  Baxter  bill,  though  -I  thought  some  of  its  provisions  unwise  and 
impolitic.  Before  signing  the  bill,  I  examined  it  with  all  the  care  the 
time  allowed  would  permit.  I  called  to  my  assistance  two  of  the 
ablest  lawyers  of  the  State,  and  I  came  to  the  conclusion  that  its  pro 
visions  were  not  in  violation  of  the  constitution.  It  was  not  a  case 
of  hasty  or  inconsiderate  legislation.  It  was  deliberately  considered 
in  both  branches  of  the  Legislature.  Believing  the  bill  to  be  con-  ' 
stitutional,  and  that  it  expressed  the  deliberate  judgment  and  will  of 
the  Legislature,  it  was  my  duty  to  sign  it.  I  believe  the  veto-power 
is  conferred  to  arrest  unconstitutional  and  hasty  legislation,  and  leg- 


SPEECH  AT  INDIANAPOLIS.  395 

islation  in  derogation  of  fundamental  and  essential  rights,  such  as  the 
equality  of  representation,  and  not  to  enable  the  Governor  to  oppose 
his  opinions  to  those  of  the  people's  immediate  representatives  upon 
questions  of  mere  policy  or  police  regulation.  That  law  has  not 
received  the  popular  support  necessary  to  make  it  efficient.  It  has 
encountered  determined  hostility  on  the  part  of  those  engaged  in  the 
liquor-business ;  and  for  many  months  extreme  temperance  people, 
in  a  very  extraordinary  manner,  have  shown  an  unwillingness  to 
abide  by  its  provisions. 

Propositions  will  be  brought  before  the  next  Legislature  for  the 
material  modification  or  repeal  of  the  law.  "What  legislation  shall 
take  its  place  ?  Our  Supreme  Court  has  declared  absolute  prohibi 
tion  to  be  unconstitutional,  and  experience,  I  believe,  has  shown  it 
to  be  impracticable.  It  then  only  remains  to  regulate  the  traffic. 

Any  useful  law  must  rest  upon  the  proposition  that  there  are 
serious  evils  to  society  and  to  individuals  connected  with  the  traffic 
in  intoxicating  liquors  which  it  is  the  province  of  the  law  to  restrain 
and  prevent.  Sales  should  not  be  made  to  boys,  and,  if  necessary 
to  prevent  it,  the  boy  who  misrepresents  or  conceals  his  age  to  obtain 
liquor  should  be  punished  as  well  as  the  party  who  knowingly  sells 
to  him.  Drunkenness  should  be  punished  as  well  as  selling  to  the 
intoxicated.  All  sales  should  be  forbidden  when  the  public  peace 
or  safety  requires  it,  and,  like  other  pursuits,  it  should  be  suspended 
in  the  night-time.  Perhaps  the  hour  now  fixed  is  unnecessarily  and 
inconveniently  early,  but  society  should  be  protected  from  the  dis 
turbances  and  bloodshed  incident  4to  the  traffic  in  the  middle  of  the 
night. 

I  think  it  might  properly  be  considered  whether  a  difference  in 
regulation  could  not  safely  be  made  for  the  sale  of  vinous  and  malt 
liquors,  and  the  stronger  and  more  intoxicating  drinks.  There  is 
certainly  a  great  difference  in  the  evils  that  result  from  their  use. 

THE    LICENSE    SYSTEM. 

With  these  and  such  other  provisions  as  may  seem  reasonable  and 
necessary,  I  think  experience  justifies  the  adoption  of  the  license 
system.  The  amount  required  for  the  license  in  each  case  should  bo 
greater  than  heretofore.  It  should  be  sufficient  to  make  the  party 
selling  feel  that  his  interest  is  identified  with  that  of  society  in  pre-  • 
serving  order  and  good  conduct  at  his  place  of  business,  and  avoiding 
all  violations  of  law.  This  policy  will  bring  a  large  revenue  into  the 


396  THE  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  A.   HENDRICKS. 

school-fund,  and  will  prove  more  efficient  in  suppressing  the  evils  of 
intemperance  than  the  present  system.  I  cannot  appreciate  the  ob 
jection  that,  by  receiving  a  license-f§e,  society  uses  money  received 
from  an  improper  source.  Under  the  present  law  the  State  grants 
a  permit,  and  deelares  the  business  lawful.  Under  a  policy  which  we 
have  long  maintained,  every  violation  of  our  criminal  law  that  is 
punished  by  fines  adds  to  the  school-fund.  No  law  upon  this  subject 
can  be  useful  unless  supported  by  public  opinion  in  its  favor.  The 
wise  legislator  considers  the  weakness  as  well  as  the  strength,  the 
follies  as  well  as  the  wisdom  of  man,  and  adapts  the  laws  to  his  real 
wants  and  necessities. 

OQNCLUSIOlSr. 

We  hear  no  more  of  the  foolish  cry  that  the  Democratic  party  is 
dead.  Stanch,  strong,  and  earnest,  it  has  its  work  to  do,  the  pleas 
ing  work  of  restoring  good  government,  wholesome  and  equal  laws, 
and  universal  harmony  to  a  great  people.  It  is  cheered  forward  by 
the  increasing  respect  and  confidence  of  the  people,  as  shown  in  the 
elections  as  they  come  on.  When  the  day  of  complete  triumph  shall 
come,  and  the  burdens  and  responsibilities  of  government  shall  rest 
upon  its  broad  shoulders,  Heaven  forbid  that  the  people  shall  be  dis 
appointed  in  their  just  expectations  ! 


CHAPTER  III. 

SPEECH   A^  ZANESVILLE. 

REFEEEISTCE  has  already  been  made  to  Governor  Hen- 
dricks's  support  of  William  Allen  in  1875.  He  went  into 
Ohio  to  work  for  the  Democratic  ticket,  believing  that  the 
success  of  the  party  was  of  greater  importance  than  the  mere 
differences  of  factions.  On  the  evening  of  September  3, 
1875,  the  Governor  spoke  at  Zanesville  before  a  large  and 
enthusiastic  audience.  His  address  on  that  occasion  was  as 
follows  : 

FELLOW-CITIZENS  :  I  think  the  reelection  of  Governor  Allen  very 
important,  and  therefore,  upon  the  invitation  of  your  State  Execu 
tive  Committee,  I  stand  before  you  to-day.  I  understand  that  it  is 
quite  customary  to  confer  upon  your  Governors,  whose  administra 
tions  are  acceptable  to  the  people,  the  honor  of  a  reelection.  Such 
a  custom  seems  to  be  consistent  with  the  public  interest.  The  official 
term  is  so  short  that  within  its  limit  an  important  policy,  or  work, 
can  hardly  be  established  or  completed.  The  honor  of  a  reelection 
was  conferred  upon  Governor  Hayes.  Why  shall  it  be  denied  to 
Governor  Allen  ?  I  think  I  am  safe  in  saying  that  his  administra 
tion  is  acceptable  to  the  people.  It  has  been  true  and  faithful  to 
them.  And  toward  its  political  opponents  it  has  Been  liberal,  if 
not  generous.  Avoiding  their  spirit  and  practice  of  proscription  and 
partisan  hatred,  it  has  not  treated  them  as  unworthy  citizens  and 
unfit  to  be  trusted,  but  has  allowed  them  to  share  in  the  responsibil 
ities  and  honors,  as  they  do  in  the  burdens,  of  the  public  service. 
Does  Governor  Allen  not  possess  the  personal  qualities  which  you 
admire  ?  Is  he  not  clear  in  his  judgment  to  discern  the  right,  and 
sincere  to  approve  it,  and  strong  and  bold  to  maintain  it  ?  Do  you 
not  know  and  feel  that  he  is  a  fit  representative  of  the  giant  great 
ness  of  your  State,  as  he  is  of  the  stalwart  statesmen  in  whose  asso- 


398  THE  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  A.   HENDRICKS. 

elation  most  of  his  public  life  was  spent  ?  You  distrust  neither  hia 
judgment  nor  the  purity  of  his  motives.  Why,  then,  shall  he  not 
receive  the  honor,  and  the  State  the  benefit,  of  his  reelection  ?  There 
is  but  one  answer.  The  Republican  leaders  cannot  afford  it.  It 
will  endanger  their  hold  upon  power,  and  will  loosen  the  grasp  of 
the  eighty  thousand  office-holders  upon  their  rich  emoluments.  Al 
ready,  from  every  quarter,  they  are  upon  you.  Did  you  not  see  the 
circular  address  of  Mr.  Edmunds,  the  postmaster  at  Washington 
City,  to  the  office-holders  throughout  the  land  for  money  ?  I  sup 
pose  the  congressional  committee  did  not  expect  it  to  become  public. 
The  sums  thus  realized  are  enormous.  A  levy  upon  eighty  regiments 
of  office-holders  will  fill  the  party  coffers  to  overflowing.  To  what 
uses  is  it  to  be  applied?  No  national  contest  calls  for  universal 
bribery.  Ohio  is  the  object  of  attack,  because  she  is  powerful  and 
influential,  and  will  stand  almost  alone  in  October.  To  the  full  ex 
tent  of  the  influence  which  your  election  will  exert,  you  are  in  the 
midst  of  the  national  contest.  So  this  question  is  precipitated  upon 
you.  Is  it  for  the  good  and  welfare  of  the  people  to  continue  the 
managers  of  the  Eepublican  party  in  uninterrupted  and  permanent 
control  ?  For  many  years  they  have  held  absolute  control.  In  the 
spirit  of  cruel  proscription  they  have  excluded  Democrats  and  Lib 
erals  from  all  participation.  They  have  had  their  own  way  absolute 
ly.  And,  according  to  all  fair  judgment,  they  carry  the  entire  re 
sponsibility  for  our  present  condition.  Our  country  is  unsurpassed, 
if  not  imequaled,  in  material  resources — in  the  elements  of  great 
wealth.  Our  people  are,  in  an  eminent  degree,  energetic,  intelligent, 
and  industrious.  Yet  every  interest  languishes,  and  the  people  suffer. 
Frightened  capital  is  concealed,- and  labor  stands  upon  the  street- 
corners  begging  employment.  Month  by  month  the  shadows  grow 
and  darken  over  the  land. 

When  evils  'become  intolerable,  the  remedy  of  the  people  is  in  a 
change' of  administration.  That  is  your  policy,  even  in  private  life. 
You  do  not  continue  an  agent  under  whose  management  your  capital 
disappears  and  your  debts  increase.  And  even  when  you  do  not  see 
the  causes,  and  cannot  locate  the  fault,  you  will  organize  a  change 
before  your  ruin  is  complete.  Your  physician  is  not  continued,  al 
though  he  may  have  had  your  confidence,  after  you  see  that  he  is 
not  prepared  to  contend  with  the  calamities  that  threaten  your  fam 
ily.  You  will  not  sacrifice  all  your  little  flock  to  a  former  devotion. 

Of  course,  you  know  that  the  leaders  propose  no  reforms.     The 


SPEECH  AT  ZANESVILLE,  •      399 

present  policies  and  conduct  of  public  affairs,  in  their  judgment, 
reach  the  summit  of  human  wisdom,  and  General  Grant's  Administra 
tion  furnishes  the  world  and  coming  generations  the  model  to  be  imi 
tated  and  the  example  to  be  followed.  In  their  speeches  this  year 
they  say  that,  in  respect  to  its  efforts  to  promote  the  purity  of  the 
public  service,  it  eclipses  all  Democratic  administrations,  and  that  no 
President  has  come  out  of  the  office  clearer  than  General  Grant.  If 
so,  it  is  plain  that  no  change  should  be  made.  In  their  State  plat 
form  they  declare  to  you  that  "because  of  the  distinguished  success 
of  his  Administration,"  President  Grant  is  entitled  to  the  gratitude 
of  his  countrymen.  If,  indeed,  that  be  sincerely  stated,  and  you  real 
ly  regard  his  Administration  as  separated  from  all  others  by  its  supe 
rior  qualities  and  extraordinary  excellence,  then,  as  true  men,  you 
want  no  change  in  the  conduct  of  public  affairs,  but  you  desire  that 
as  this  Administration  is,  so  its  successor  shall  be. 

EEPUBLICAN    FINANCIAL    POLICY. 

But,  before  striking  a  blow  at  Governor  Allen  only  to  perpetuate 
the  present  conduct  and  policies,  will  you  not  carefully  consider  the 
same,  and  decide  whether  that  be  your  real  judgment  ?  Upon  finance, 
what  do  you  want  your  vote  to  mean  ?  Do  you  wish  it  to  be  an  ap 
proval  and  indorsement  of  the  policy  of  the  Republican  party  on  that 
subject?  That  policy  is  found  in  the  act  of  the  14th  of  last  January. 
Governor  Morton  informed  the  people  of  Ohio  that  it  was  the  result 
of  consultation  and  compromise,  and  that  every  Eepublican  Senator, 
save  one,  voted  for  it,  as  did  all  the  Republicans  in  the  House,  except 
a  few  from  the  Eastern  States.  No  Democrat  in  the  Senate  voted* 
for  it,  and  I  am  not  aware  that  it  received  any  Democrat's  support  in 
the  House.  In  the  speech  at  Marion,  Mr.  Senator  Sherman  declared" 
that  he  reported  the  measure,  advocated  and  voted  for  it,  and  hearti 
ly  defends  and  approves  it ;  that  it  was  the  result  of  the  most  careful 
deliberation  ;  that  it  definitely  declares  a  public  policy ;  and  that  it  is 
the  fixed  policy  of  the  Republican  party,  "  and  no  step  backward." 
And  now,  as  that  act  declares  the  deliberate  purpose  and  fixed  policy 
of  that  party  upon  a  most  important  question,  it  should  be  accurate 
ly  and  generally  understood.  The  first  section  provides  for  the  sub 
stitution  of  silver  coin  for  the  fractional  currency.  The  silver  is  not 
in  the  Treasury,  and  must  be  purchased.  The  special  dispatch  to  the 
Cincinnati  Commercial  of  the  14th  of  last  month,  says  that  the  Secre 
tary  of  the  Treasury  will  be  obliged  to  sell  between  thirty  and  forty 


400  THE   LIFE   OF  THOMAS  A.   HESDRICKS. 

millions  of  five  per  cent,  bonds  for  that  purpose.  The  direct  effect  is 
to  increase  our  interest-bearing  debt  about  forty  millions,  and  the 
annual  interest  two  millions — in  other  words,  it  is  the  conversion  of 
a  domestic  debt,  which  bears  no  interest,  into  a  foreign  debt  bearing 
interest.  The  silver  coin,  when  so  issued,  will  not  be  a  legal  tender 
beyond  five  dollars,  and  its  depreciation  below  gold  will  be  nearly,  if 
not  quite,  as  great  as  that  of  the  currency  which  it  is  to  displace. 

The  second  section  repeals  the  law  which  allows  a  charge  for 
coining  bullion,  and  is  proper.  The  third  and  remaining  section 
removes  legal  restrictions  and  limitations,  so  as  to  allow  free  bank 
ing.  It  also  provides  that,  upon  the  issue  of  bank-bills  to  the  banks, 
the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  shall  redeem  legal-tender  Treasury 
notes  to  the  extent  of  eighty  per  cent,  of  the  bank-bills  so  issued, 
until  the  volume  of  the  legal-tender  Treasury  notes  outstanding  shall 
be  reduced  to  three  hundred  million  dollars.  The  effect  of  that  pro 
vision  is  to  substitute  national-bank  paper  for  legal-tender  notes  to 
the  extent  of  about  eighty-two  million  dollars  of  the  latter.  The 
section  then  provides  that  "  on  and  after  the  first  day  of  January, 
Anno  Domini  eighteen  hundred  and  seventy-nine,  the  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury  shall  redeem  in  coin  the  United  States  legal-tender  notes 
then  outstanding,  on  their  presentation  for  redemption  at  the  office 
of  the  Assistant  Treasurer  of  the  United  States,  in  the  city  of  New 
York,  in  sums  of  not  less  than  fifty  dollars."  Thus,  by  the  process 
of  redemption  and  substitution,  all  the  legal-tender  notes  are  to  be 
taken  from  circulation,  and  the  currency  of  the  country  is  to  be  coin 
and  bank-bills.  In  other  words,  it  was  intended  to  give  the  na 
tional  banks  the  entire  field,  notwithstanding  the  same  Congress,  in 
the  month  of  June  before,  had  given  the  country  the  assurance  that 
the  legal-tender  circulation  should  remain  at  three  hundred  and 
eighty-two  millions.  Such  was  the  construction  given  to  the  act  of 
June,  1874,  while  it  was  pending  in  the  Senate.  I  have  given  you 
the  language  of  that  provision  of  the  act  requiring  the  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury,  on  the  first  day  of  January,  1879,  and  thereafter,  to 
redeem  the  legal-tender  notes  "  then  outstanding,"  because  it  had 
been  stated  to  the  people  of  Ohio  that  "  the  bill  provided  that  the 
greenbacks  should  not  be  retired  so  as  to  leave  less  than  three  hun 
dred  millions  in  circulation."  From  the  language  of  the  law  you 
will  perceive  that  all  the  legal-tender  notes  that  are  not  displaced  by 
bank-bills  are  to  be  redeemed  and  taken  out  of  circulation.  Do  you 
wish  your  vote  to  approve  this  measure  and  fasten  it  upon  the  coun- 


SPEECH  AT   ZANESVILLE.  401 

try  ?  I  was  called  upon  to  preside  over  the  Democratic  Convention 
of  Indiana  last  year.  In  my  address  to  that  body,  upon  this  subject, 
I  said :  "  Our  paper  currency  consists  of  Treasury  notes,  declared  by 
Congress  to  be  lawful  money,  and  national-bank  notes.  I  am  not  in 
favor  of  the  policy  that  proposes  to  retire  the  Treasury  notes  to  make 
room  for  an  increase  of  national  banks  and  their  paper.  The  Treas 
ury  notes  are  the  cheaper  currency  to  the  people,  and  command  pub 
lic  confidence.  They  are  not  irredeemable.  For  their  value  they 
rest  upon  the  pledge  and  conscience  of  the  country.  The  relation 
between  the  holder  and  the  Government  is  direct.  The  people  are 
not  required  to  pay  interest  upon  national  bonds  deposited  as  the 
basis  of  their  security  and  value,  as  in  the  case  of  bank-notes.  Pass 
ing  everywhere,  and  without  question,  they  are  the  favorite  and  pop 
ular  currency." 

I  ask  your  very  careful  consideration  of  the  last  provision  of  the 
act.  It  would  have  been  idle,  as  well  as  vicious,  for  Congress  to 
direct  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to  redeem  the  legal  tenders  in 
coin  without  making  provision  for  the  same.  To  meet  the  necessity 
the  act  provides  :  "  And  to  enable  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to 
prepare  and  provide  for  the  redemption  in  this  act  authorized  or  re 
quired,  he  is  authorized  to  use  any  surplus  revenues  from  time  to 
time  in  the  Treasury  not  otherwise  appropriated,  and  to  issue,  sell, 
and  dispose  of,  at  not  less  than  par,  in  coin,  either  of  the  descriptions 
of  bonds  of  the  United  States  described  in  the  act  of  Congress  ap 
proved  July  14,  1870,  entitled  'An  act  to  authorize  the  refunding  of 
the  public  debt,'  with  like  qualities,  privileges,  and  exemptions,  to 
the  extent  necessary  to  carry  this  act  into  full  effect,  and  to  use  the 
proceeds  thereof  for  the  purpose  aforesaid.  And  all  provisions  of 
law  inconsistent  with  the  provisions  of  this  act  are  hereby  re 
pealed."  At  the  passage  of  this  act,  there  was  outstanding,  as  I 
suppose,  $382,000,000  of  legal-tender  notes,  as  provided  in  the  act 
of  June,  1874.  Should  the  $82,000,000  be  retired  by  the  substitu 
tion  of  bank-notes  under  the  first  section,  then  there  will  remain 
$300,000,000  to  be  redeemed  with  gold.  It  is  not  probable  that  the 
$82,000,000  will  be  entirely  displaced  by  bank-notes.  If  not,  an  ex 
cess  of  the  $300,000,000  will  remain  for  redemption  in  gold.  That 
excess  will  probably  equal  the  surplus  revenues  in  gold  that  the 
Secretary  will  find  available  for  the  purposes  of  the  act.  I  suppose 
it  may,  therefore,  be  assumed  that  the  Secretary  will  be  required  to 
sell  five  per  cent,  bonds  to  meet  $300,000,000  of  Treasury  notes.  The 


402  THE  LIFE   OF  THOMAS   A.   HENDRICKS. 

immediate  and  direct  effect  of  the  measure  will  be  to  increase  our 
debt-bearing  interest  $300,000,000,  and  an  annual  interest  of  $15,000,- 
000  in  gold.  If  we  add  the  $40,000,000  of  bonds  that  must  be  sold  to 
buy  silver  to  displace  the  fractional  currency,  we  have,  in  this  meas 
ure,  an  increase  of  the  interest-bearing  debt  of  $340,000,000,  and  of 
the  annual  interest  of  $17,000,000  in  gold.  The  bonds  will  be  sold 
in  Europe.  This  Administration  conducts  all  such  transactions  through 
a  European  syndicate,  or  combination  of  banks.  Thus  the  debt  will 
be  a  foreign  one,  and  will  add  $17,000,000  to  the  enormous  annual 
exportation  of  gold  to  meet  interest.  What  consideration  of  obliga 
tion  or  of  good  policy  can  support  this  measure  ?  In  the  mids't  of  a 
financial  crisis  so  serious  as  to  disturb  the  foundations  of  our  pros 
perity,  we  are  to  add  this  large  sum  to  our  foreign  debt.  Why  is  it 
done  ?  The  $382,000,000  of  Treasury  notes  are  held  exclusively  by 
our  own  people.  It  is  a  domestic  debt.  The  holders  are  not  asking 
its  redemption.  For  the  present  they  want  it  to  remain  circulating 
among  them  as  "  lawful  money."  The  Treasury  notes  were  issued  as 
legal  tenders  at  a  time  when  they  were  supposed  to  be  essential  to 
the  maintenance  of  the  public  credit.  It  was  deemed  expedient  to 
issue  a  portion  of  the  Government's  credit  in  the  form  of  currency  ; 
and,  therefore,  the  Treasury  notes  bear  a  double  character.  They  are 
at  once  the  evidence  of  a  Government  debt  and  are  a  medium  of 
commerce,  a  debt  to  be  paid  and  legal  tenders  to  be  used.  They  were 
so  issued  by  the  Government  and  so  accepted  by  the  people.  No  time 
was  fixed  for  their  redemption.  The  people  received  them,  leaving 
that  to  the  pleasure  and  conscience  of  the  Government.  In  the  mean 
time  they  have  been  used  as  money.  Then,  in  accordance  with  the 
purpose  of  their  issue,  should  they  be  withdrawn  so  as  to  injure  busi 
ness  or  labor  until  as  good  or  a  better  currency  can  take  their  place  ? 
Every  obligation  of  the  Government  must  be  met  and  discharged. 
"Whoever  questions  the  fidelity  of  the  Democracy  to  the  country's 
honor  in  that  respect  speaks  without  regard  to  truth.  I  full  recog 
nize  the  obligation  for  the  redemption  of  the  Treasury  notes,  but  I  can 
not  feel  that  it  must  be  discharged  at  a  time  when  it  may  seriously 
add  to  our  embarrassments  and  when  the  people  who  hold  them  do 
not  desire  it.  In  our  present  condition,  any  addition  to  our  foreign 
gold  obligations  is  a  calamity.  Will  you  vote  to  convert  this  domes 
tic,  non-interest-bearing  debt  into  a  foreign,  interest-bearing  gold 
debt?  In  this  statement  I  have  made  no  estimate  for  the  sale  of  bonds 
and  increase  of  interest  debt,  which  may  be  necessary  to  enable  the 


SPEECH   AT  ZANESVILLE.  403 

Secretary  to  redeem  the  $82,000,000  legal  tenders,  which  are  to  be 
displaced  as  bank-bills  issue. 

It  is  now  my  duty  to  call  your  attention  to  other  probable  conse 
quences  of  this  measure,  more  frightful  than  those  which  I  have  ex 
posed.  As  the  time  for  the  redemption  of  the  Treasury  notes  in  gold 
approaches,  and  the  Secretary  prepares  for  their  redemption  by  the 
sale  of  bonds  and  the  accumulation  of  gold  in  the  Treasury,  they  will 
rapidly  advance  in  value.  During  the  period  of  two  years  before  the 
redemption  commences,  persons  who  are  able  to  hold  money  out  of 
active  use  will  accumulate  and  retire  the  Treasury  notes  for  the 
profit  of  their  increasing  value.  The  banks  are  permitted  by  law  to 
redeem  their  bills  in  Treasury  notes.  So  long  as  the  bills  and  notes 
are  about  the  same  value,  the  bills  are  not  presented  to  the  banks  for 
payment.  But  as  soon  as  the  Treasury  notes  advance  in  value  they 
will  be  presented  for  payment.  The  banks  will  anticipate  that  prob 
able  result,  and  will  prepare  for  it  by  hoarding  the  Treasury  notes  for 
the  redemption  of  their  paper.  The  probable  consequence  will  be, 
that  under  these  influences  the  Treasury  notes  will,  for  a  consider 
able  period  of  time,  be  withdrawn  from  circulation,  and  our  currency 
will  be  contracted  to  nearly  one-half  its  quantity.  As  rapidly  as  the 
Treasury  notes  are  used  in  the  redemption  and  retirement  of  the 
bank-bills  they  will  be  presented  at  the  Treasury  for  redemption  in 
gold,  and  will  disappear  forever.  I  know  it  is  said  that,  as  soon  as 
it  is  established  that  they  are  redeemable  in  gold,  they  will  not  be 
presented,  as  they  will  then  be  as- good  as  gold.  To  some  extent  that 
would  be  true  in  a  time  of  established  composure  and  confidence,  but 
that  will  not  be  the  condition  of  our  country  while  this  law  is  being 
executed.  Do  you  not  present  your  negotiable  paper  at  maturity, 
merely  because  you  have  confidence  in  the  ability  and  willingness  of 
your  debtor  ?  How  long  do  you  think  the  gold  paid  out  in  the  re 
demption  of  the  Treasury  notes  will  remain  in  the  country  ?  Will  it 
pass  along  the  veins  and  arteries  of  business,  and  give  life  and  en 
ergy?  In  a  time  of  general  confidence  it  might  be  so,  but  not  while 
this  law  is  being  executed.  Public  confidence  and  financial  stability 
cannot  be  made  to  rest  upon  borrowed  gold.  This  measure  will  in 
crease  our  gold  obligations  abroad,  and,  because  of  contraction,  will 
reduce  production  at  home.  This  flow  of  gold  abroad  will  continue, 
and  the  borrowed  gold  will  soon  be  gone. 

In  this  presentation  of  the  subject  I  have  not  considered  the  pos 
sibility  of  any  extraordinary  foreign  demand.  Any  great,  financial 


404  THE  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  A.   HENDEICKS. 

crisis  abroad,  or  disturbance  of  the  peace  of  Europe,  would  cause  our 
bonds  to  be  thrown  upon  our  market  in  large  quantities,  and  a  cor 
responding  draft  upon  our  supply  of  gold.  I  do  not  believe  we  can 
rely  upon  this  measure  for  any  supply  of  gold  to  our  domestic  cur 
rency  that  will  be  permanent  or  useful.  Substantially  our  reliance 
for  a  currency  must  be  upon  the  banks.  Will  they  be  in  a  condition 
to  supply  it  ?  The  retirement  of  the  Treasury  notes  will  leave  them 
under  the  obligation  to  redeem  in  gold  only.  Can  they  meet  that 
obligation?  And,  with  the  known  uncertainty  in  the  supply  of  gold, 
will  they  venture  to  throw  their  paper  upon  the  currents  of  trade  in 
quantities  at  all  adequate  to  the  demands  of  legitimate  business? 
The  act  permits  free  banking,  and  the  bills  are  yet  redeemable  in 
Treasury  notes.  What  has  been  the  result  ?  The  statement  of  the 
Comptroller,  made  on  the  6th  of  July,  shows  that  since  the  passage 
of  the  law,  January  14,  1875,  to  the  1st  of  July,  nearly  half  a  year, 
the  increase  of  bank  currency  is  but  seven  thousand  five  hundred  and 
fifty-eight  dollars.  Does  this  statement  justify  the  opinion  that,  after 
the  Treasury  notes  have  ceased  to  be  available  for  redemption,  the 
banks  will  venture  their  paper  upon  the  disturbed  currents  of  busi 
ness?  I  believe  the  financial  policy  of  this  Administration,  and  of 
the  party  which  supports  it,  as  expressed  in  this  act  of  Congress,  will 
so  contract  the  currency  as  to  paralyze  all  legitimate  business,  and 
leave  labor  in  rags  begging  for  employment.  I  know  the  opinion  is 
entertained — for  I  have  heard  it  expressed  by  many — that  the  law  is 
so  clearly  impolitic  that  its  execution  will  not  be  attempted. 

Did  the  President,  in  his  first  inaugural,  not  say  that  all  laws  should 
be  executed,  whether  they  met  his  approval  or  not?  But  the  law  is 
now  being  executed.  Many  millions  of  dollars  of  the  bonds  have 
already  been  sold  to  provide  the  means  for  the  retirement  of  the  out 
standing  currency.  Is  this  terrible  blow  to  fall  upon  the  industries 
of  the  country  ?  Ohio  stands  in  the  van.  She  should  make  her  great 
strength  so  felt  that  even  Senator  Sherman,  who  reported  the  meas 
ure,  will  respect  it  in  a  movement  for  repeal.  If  Governor  Allen  be 
elected,  I  believe  it  will  be  repealed,  so  great  is  the  power  of  the  peo 
ple.  But  Senators  Sherman  and  Morton,  in  their  key-note  speeches, 
declared  to  the  people  of  Ohio  that  this  is  the  party  policy  to  be 
approved  and  stood  by.  May  it  not  well  be  claimed  that  Governor 
Allen's  defeat  is  its  approval  and  indorsement  by  the  people?  Will 
you,  then,  expect  the  Senate  to  consent  to  its  repeal?  However 
earnest  we  may  be  for  a  return  to  specie  payments,  we  cannot  wish 


SPEECH   AT  ZANESV1LLE.  405 

to  reach  it  through  universal  bankruptcy  and  a  frightful  increase 
of  our  foreign  public  debt.  Because  of  my  strong  belief  that  this 
measure  is  fraught  with  calamity  to  the  commercial  interests,  to  the 
industrial  pursuits,  and  to  the  labor  of  the  country,  I  have  responded 
to  the  committee's  invitation,  without  reference  to  many  other  ques 
tions  that  may  be  discussed  among  you.  Have  you  considered  the 
reasons  which  Senator  Sherman  says  controlled  his  party  in  passing 
this  law  ?  He  himself  wanted  another  measure,  whether  better  or 
worse  than  this  I  need  not  consider.  He  wished  to  fund  the  Treasury 
notes  until  the  residue  should  be  at  par  with  gold.  By  how  great  a 
contraction  neither  he  nor  I  can  say.  How  destructive  to  business 
no  one  can  say.  Probably  the  country  would  become  strewed  with 
broken  fortunes,  and  the  highways  filled  with  wretched  men  seeking 
employment.  His  party  friends  would  not  agree  to  it.  He  says  they 
had  gone  into  the  canvass  of  last  year  with  divided  counsels,  and  the 
result  was  defeat.  When  they  met  last  winter  they  were  taught  by 
the  defeat  that  the  party  in  power  must  agree  upon  some  measure, 
and  the  result  was  the  passage  of  this  law.  It  is  a  strange  statement 
— confession,  I  may  say — that  a  law  affecting  every  interest  of  the 
people  was  the  child  of  party  necessity.  Will  you  adopt  it,  and  rear 
it,  that  it  may  destroy  you  ?  Your  decision  will  be  in  your  vote. 

SPECIE    PAYMENTS. 

Having  stated  my  objections  to  the  last-developed  financial  policy 
of  the  Administration  and  its  party,  I  ask  your  permission  to  read 
what  I  said  to  the  people  of  Indiana  last  year  in  respect  to  specie 
payments:  "The  expression  in  favor  of  a  return  to  specie  payments 
is  very  general,  but  the  real  question  is,  When  and  how  can  that  be 
accomplished  ?  So  long  as  the  supply  of  coin  is  so  small,  as  com 
pared  with  the  paper-money,  it  is  impossible.  The  effort  now  would 
probably  result  in  commercial  disaster.  The  people  so  believe.  No 
sentiment  attributed  to  Mr.  Greeley  in  1872  was  more  hurtful  to  his 
political  fortunes  than  the  demand  for  immediate  specie  payments. 
To  render  it  possible,  without  hurt  to  the  country,  coin  and  paper 
must  come  nearer  together  in  quantity.  They  will  then  be  nearer, 
if  not  uniform,  in  value.  How  shall  that  be  brought  about?  By 
reducing  the  paper  currency?  With  the  present  burden  of  national, 
State,  and  local  taxation,  and  the  large  volume  of  other  indebtedness 
to  be  provided  for,  that  cannot  be  borne.  It  would  cramp  business 
and  paralyze  labor.  No  one  desires  a  return  to  specie  payments 


406  THE  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  A.   HENDRICKS. 

more  earnestly  than  myself,  for  I  believe  gold  and  silver  are  the  real 
standard  of  values,  universal  and  permanent.  As  I  had  occasion 
once  before  to  say,  the  existence  of  commercial  mediums  of  different 
values — one  description  of  money  for  one  class  and  purpose,  and  an 
other  for  a  different  class  and  purpose — is  too  serious  an  evil  to  be 
long  endured.  All  the  money  of  the  country  should  be  of  uniform 
value,  and  readily  convertible.  But  we  are  not  in  that  condition. 
Our  paper-money  exceeds  the  coin  by  nearly  five  dollars  to  one. 
How  shall  we  bring  them  nearer  together  in  quantity,  that  they  may 
approach  and  meet  in  value  ?  Shall  we  commence  at  the  top  and  tear 
down,  or  at  the  bottom  and  build  up?  Business,  enterprise,  and 
labor,  every  important  interest  of  the  country,  demand  that  the  vol 
ume  of  the  currency  be  maintained  to  meet  their  requirements ;  but 
every  interest  will  be  strengthened  by  increasing  the  supply  of  coin. 
How  is  that  to  be  accomplished?  By  encouraging  an  increased  pro 
duction  of  our  great  staples  that  command  the  foreign  market;  by 
reducing  our  expenditures  in  foreign  purchases ;  and  by  reversing 
the  fatal  policy  which  has  sought  to  make  our  debt  a  foreign  debt. 
"When  we  purchase  less  of  foreign  goods,  and  sell  more  of  our  pro 
ductions  abroad,  and  cease  to  pay  so  much  of  the  interest  on  our 
debt  abroad,  and  pay  it  to  our  own  citizens,  the  current  of  gold  will 
turn  toward  our  shores,  and  then  specie  payments  will  be  certain, 
natural,  and  permanent,  and  will  become  the  basis  of  an  enduring 
prosperity.  As  soon  as  the  business  of  the  country  and  the  condi 
tion  of  our  European  trade  will  justify  the  opinion  that  gold  is  ac 
cumulating,  and  is  likely  to  remain,  Congress  may  safely  fix  the  time 
and  provide  for  the  redemption  of  the  Treasury  notes. 

When  I  addressed  these  sentiments  to  my  fellow-citizens  of  In 
diana  a  year  ago,  it  did  not  occur  to  me  that  there  was  a  statesman 
ship  beyond  and  above  all  I  had  thought  to  be  found  simply  in  bor 
rowing  gold,  increasing  our  national  debt,  and  the  ever-recurring 
payment  of  interest  abroad.  I  had  supposed  that  our  ability  at  all 
times  to  redeem  the  paper  currency  in  gold  depended  upon  a  perma 
nent  as  well  as  a  sufficient  supply.  I  had  thought  that  gold  brought 
into  the  country,  under  the  influences  of  increased  production  and 
commerce,  would  remain,  but  that  borrowed  gold  would  not  stay. 
My  confidence  is  in  the  development  of  the  resources  of  the  country, 
in  its  increasing  and  extended  productions,  and  in  the  stable  laws 
that  regulate  trade  and  commerce,  rather  than  in  temporary  and 
arbitrary  devices  by  Congress.  More  than  once  during  the  war, 


SPEECH  AT  ZANESVILLE.  407 

under  tho  lead  of  Senator  Sherman,  Congress  undertook  to  regulate 
transactions  in  gold,  with  a  view  to  controlling  its  price,  and  you 
recollect  how  foolish  and  abortive  all  such  attempts  proved  to  be. 

KEPUBLICAN    OBSTEUOTION8    TO    EESUMPTION. 

.  The  party  that  now  seeks  continued  power  is  responsible  for  the 
two  great  impediments  in  the  way  of  resumption.  By  strange  and 
questionable  devices,  they  have  sought  to  make  our  debt  a  foreign  in 
stead  of  a  domestic  debt.  The  consequence  is,  that  every  pay-day 
large  sums  in  gold  are  sent  abroad  to  pay  interest-coupons.  The  red 
blood  flows  from  the  veins  and  arteries  of  the  country.  Ireland  was 
impoverished  by  her  landlords,  who  expended  their  rents  abroad. 
Cheap  Chinese  labor  eats  at  the  vitals  of  our  prosperity  on  the  Pacific 
coast,  so  long  as  their  wages  are  sent  back  in  gold  to  China.  The 
farmer  grows  poorer  every  year  who  returns  no  nourishment  to  his 
fields.  To  our  State  Convention  last  year  I  made  this  statement  of 
the  second  impediment:  "Cotton  and  tobacco  are  the  most  impor 
tant  staples  in  our  exports,  at  some  times  exceeding  all  other  com 
modities.  Since  the  close  of  the  war  it  has  been  the  suggestion  of 
wisdom  to  encourage  their  production  in  the  largest  possible  quanti 
ties,  as  it  had  been  the  dictate  of  humanity,  Christianity,  and  patri 
otism,  to  promote  reconciliation  and  harmony  between  the  sections. 
But  political  and  partisan  interests  have  been  made  paramount  to 
humanity  and  the  welfare  of  the  country.  Bad  governments  have 
been  established,  and  as  far  as  possible  maintained,  in  the  South. 
Intelligence  and  virtue  have  been  placed  under  the  dominion  and  ser 
vitude  of  ignorance  and  vice.  Corruption  has  borne  sway;  public 
indebtedness  has  become  frightful,  and  taxes  too  heavy  to  carry,  and 
development  crushed,  and  enterprise  manacled.  In  a  word,  it  has 
been  the  government  of  hatred  J  and  all  this,  that  party  might  bear 
rule."  They  have  nourished  the  noxious  plants  of  corruption,  vio 
lence,  and  fraud  in  Louisiana,  and  other  States,  rather  than  the  cot 
ton-plant  and  sugar-cane.  Agriculture  cannot  flourish  under  bad 
laws,  corrupt  administration,  and  cruel  taxation. 

I  suppose  it  is  entirely  clear  to  your  observation  that,  had  State 
authority  been  respected  in  accordance  with  the  Constitution,  and  the 
people  been  left  in  the  control  of  their  domestic  affairs,  without  prej 
udice  or  denial  of  right  to  any  class,  in  accordance  with  the  Consti 
tution,  greater  harmony  would  have  prevailed  between  the  races, 
prosperity  would  have  returned  to  those  communities  more  rapidly, 


408  THE  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  A.   HENDRICKS. 

and  the  production  of  the  great  staples  would  have  been  much 
more  abundant.  Then  our  valuable  materials  of  export  would  have 
been  in  larger  supply,  and,  as  a  consequence,  our  supply  of  gold  more 
reliable  and  permanent,  and  specie  payments  nearer  a  possibility. 
Individual  happiness  and  the  general  interests  of  the  country  have 
been  sacrificed  to  party  policy.  Harmony  based  upon  justice,  and 
the  protection  of  the  rights  of  all  classes,  must  be  restored.  Pros 
perity  will  follow,  as  pure  water  flows  from  a  pure  fountain. 

The  general  paralysis  of  business  and  employment,  and  the  dis 
trust  of  useful  investments  because  of  shrinkage  in  values,  as  well  as 
the  condition  of  our  currency,  have  brought  about  differences  of 
opinion  among  Democrats.  I  think  these  differences  may  be  ad 
justed.  I  have  heretofore  expressed  the  opinion  that  a  wise  states 
manship  may  avoid  the  extremes  of  a  contracted  currency,  cramping 
enterprise  and  labor,  on  the  one  hand,  and  of  an  inflated  and  depreci 
ated  currency  on  the  other ;  that  they  are  the  extremes  of  gluttony 
and  starvation,  and  that  health  and  strength  will  come  of  neither. 
I  have  an  unshaken  confidence  that  the  national  council  of  our  party 
will  so  adjust  these  differences  as  to  maintain  our  ancient  doctrine  in 
favor  of  a  sound  and  stable  currency,  and  of  policies  in  accordance 
therewith,  and  with  a  return  to  specie  payments  always  in  view,  and 
at  the  same  time  avoiding  the  disasters  which  would  inevitably  fol 
low  contraction. 

EXTRAVAGANT   EXPENDITURES. 

As  connected  with  and  having  a  very  important  influence  upon 
the  business  and  financial  condition  of  the  country,  it  is  my  duty  to 
call  your  attention  to  the  extravagant  expenditure  of  money  by  the 
General  Government.  The  last  report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treas 
ury  shows  that  for  the  year  ending  June  30,  1874,  the  "  net  ordinary 
expenditures,  exclusive  of  the  public  debt,"  amounted  to  $285,738,- 
800.21.  The  interest  paid  that  year  on  the  public  debt  was  $107,- 
119,815.21 ;  the  amount  paid  on  pensions,  $29,038,414.66,  making 
together  $136,158,229.87.  Deduct  the  interest  and  pensions  from 
the  net  expenditures,  and  there  remains  $149,580,571.34.  That  sum 
represents  the  ordinary  payments  for  one  year,  after  deducting 
everything  that  resulted  from  the  war.  I  have  seen  it  stated  that 
the  expenditure  for  the  same  purposes  during  the  last  year  amounted 
to  about  $145,000,000,  but  I  am  not  able  to  speak  accurately,  as  the 
Secretary  has  made  no  report  of  that  year.  Before  the  war  the 
ordinary  expenditures  were  from  fifty  to  sixty  millions,  sometimes 


SPEECH  AT   ZANESVILLE.  409 

going  above  that,  because  of  extraordinary  demands.  Do  you  not 
think  two  dollars  for 'one,  or  about  one  hundred  millions,  ought  to  be 
sufficient  ?  Yet  they  now  require  nearly  three  to  one.  Favoritism 
always  costs  the  people  heavily,  but- it  seems  strange  how  pretexts 
can  be  found  for  $150,000,000.  Will  you  vote  to  indorse  such  expen 
ditures  ? 

VICES    IN   THE    PUBLIC    SEEVICE. 

Closely  connected  with  the  extravagance  is  the  immorality 
which  pervades  the  public  service.  This,  too,  calls  for  your  attentive 
consideration  and  your  sincere  efforts  at  reform.  It  impairs  your 
revenues  and  disturbs  public  confidence.  Need  I  particularize  ?  It 
is  known  to  you,  at  least  in  part.  What  department  is  free  from 
taint  ?  In  the  Post-Office  Department  it  extends  from  the  conspir 
acy  to  defraud  the  Government  in  the  mail-lettings,  involving  im 
mense  sums,  down  to  the  petty  pilfering  in  the  repair  of  mail-bags 
in  the  neighborhood  of  the  post-office  at  Indianapolis.  The  Treas 
ury  Department  has  been  singularly  unfortunate.  During  the  four 
years  in  which  Mr.  Guthrie  was  at  its  head  there  were  no  defaults 
and  there  was  no  money  lost ;  but  of  late  years  long  lists  of  default 
ing  officers  have  been  published,  and  recently  large  ^numbers  of 
officers  in  the  Internal  Revenue  Service-  have  been  detected  in  com 
plicated,  and  enormous  frauds.  The  Department  of  Justice,  under 
the  management  of  the  late  Attorney-General,  became  the  instru 
ment  of  injustice.  Cruel  in  its  political  prosecutions  and  unscrupu 
lous  in  the  use  of  the  public  money  for  political  purposes,  it  became 
the  object  of  general  suspicion  and  distrust.  Arkansas  and  North 
Carolina  were  the  scenes  of  its  most  audacious  misappropriation  of 
money.  Will  it  be  proper  for  me  to  speak  of  the  Interior  Depart 
ment?  An  Ohio  man  is  at  its  head.  I  will  speak  of  the  Indian 
service  only.  In  former  Administrations  the  entire  cost  of  that  ser 
vice  was  but  about  $3,000,000,  when  the  Indians  were  more  numer 
ous  than  now.  During  Mr.  Lincoln's  Administration  that  was  about 
the  cost  of  the  service.  In  his  message  of  December,  1863,  he  says 
that  for  the  prior  year  the  payment  on  account  of  pensions  and  Indi 
ans  amounted  to  $4,216,520.79.  I  suppose  the  pension  list  was  then 
something  above  one  million,  leaving  the  Indian  -expenditures  three 
millions.  The  last  official  report  shows  the  expenditure  for  the  In 
dian  service  alone  $6,692,462.09.  It  has  more  than  doubled.  For 
improved  administration  you  would  pay  more  money,  but  where  are 
the  fruits  of  the  large  expenditure  ?  Both  the  Government  and  the 
18 


410       ..        THE   LIFE   OF  THOMAS  A.   HENDRICKS. 

Indians  are  cheated  in  the  quality  and  quantity  of  clothing  and  food 
furnished,  and  in  the  false  accounts  that  are  allowed  and  paid.  An 
army-officer  stationed  last  winter  at  the  Ked  Cloud  agency  thus  de 
scribes  the  situation  and  scene:  "The  Indians  are  all  quiet  now. 
The  poor  wretches  have  been  several  times  this  winter  on  the  verge 
of  starvation  through  the  rascality  of  the  Indian  ring.  They  have 
been  compelled  to  eat  dogs,  wolves,  and  ponies."  Did  you  read  the 
description  of  the  dramatic  scene  in  the  Interior  Department  on  the 
first  day  of  last  June,  as  given  in  the  dispatches  ?  It  illustrates  the 
policy  and  style  of  the  department.  They  wanted  the  Black  Hills 
country.  The  Indians  were  brought  in  for  negotiation.  On  that  day 
they  were  in  the  Secretary's  room.  The  Secretary  was  there  A  bishop 
was -by  his  side.  The  Indian  Commissioner  was  there  also.  Twenty- 
five  thousand  dollars  were  offered  them  for  the  Black  Hills.  They 
did  not  want  to  leave  that  hunting-ground.  They  were  reminded  of 
the  desire  of  the  whites  for  the  country,  and  of  the  difficulty  of  keep 
ing  them  out.  The  Secretary  then  told  them  that  if  they  did  not  take 
the  $25,000.  in  thirty  days,  they  might  not  get  it  at  all.  In  the  agony 
of  his  soul  the  chief,  Ked  Cloud,  cried  out:  "Great  Spirit,  hear 
me  I  have  njercy  upon  me,  pity  me!"  Was  ever  such  a  prayer 
uttered  within  those  walls  before?  In  these  years  of  Indian  mis 
management,  too  corrupt  and  cruel  to  be  described,  the  Indians  are 
"becoming  more  treacherous  and  the  borders  more  insecure.  What  say 
you,  my  countrymen,  to  a  return  to  such  a  policy  as  Jackson  main 
tained,  when  the  Indian  was  made  to  obey  the  authority  of  the  country 
and  the  white  man  to  respect  the  rights  of  the  Indian  ?  I  will  only 
•refer  to  the  late  shame  brought  upon  the  departments  by  the  de-- 
veloped  frauds  connected  with  the  Marine  Corps.  These  are  all 
recent  transactions.  They  yet  remain  for  congressional  investigation. 

THE    DISTEICT    OF    COLUMBIA. 

I  will  not  weary  you  even  by  a  reference  to  the  notorious  and 
enormous  frauds  that  have  been  investigated  during  the  past  few 
years,  except  that  in  the.  District  of  Columbia.  That  cannot  be 
omitted,  because  it  was  in  our  national  capital,  and  brought  special 
disgrace  upon  the  whole  people,  and  because,  in  respect  to  it,  the 
party  has  entered  a  plea  of  guilty.  In  1871,  the  District  of  Colum 
bia  was  placed  under  a  new  form  of  government.  The  Governor  and 
many  officers,  and  one  branch  of  the  Legislature,  were  appointed  by 
the  President,  and  the  other  branch  was  chosen  by  the  people.  The 


SPEECH  AT  ZANESYILLE.  411 

opportunity  to  maintain  good  government  was  most  favorable.  It 
was  immediately  under 'the  eye  of  the  President  and  his  cabinet,  with 
a  party  so  strong  as  to  exclude  all  opposition.  They  had  their  way, 
and  developed  their  tendency.  '  Corruption  and  .favoritism  soon  had 
sway,  and  in  three  years  the  debt  of  the  District  exceeded  $20,000,- 
000.  The  burden  became  too  great  for  the  party.  Before  the  world 
it  was  admitted  that,  with  officers  appointed  by  the  President  and 
elected  by  the  party,  they  could  not  maintain  free  and  pure  govern 
ment.  They  abandoned  it,  and,  in  the  spirit  of  Home's  government 
of  her  conquered  provinces,  they  placed  the  District  of  Columbia 
under  the  control  of  three  commissioners  chosen  from  distant  parts 
of  the.  country.  Free  and  representative  government  fell  before  cor 
ruption  in  the  capital  of  our  country,  and  it  stands  as  an  humiliating 
admission  to  the  world.  What  answer  is  made  to  the  people  when 
they  complain  of  this  most  extraordinary  condition  of  the  service  ? 
Will  this  plea  for  the  party  be  received,  that,. considering  the  magni 
tude  of  the  service,  there  "  never  has  been  a  period  in  the  history  of 
the'  Government  when  there  has  been  less  fraud  or  peculation,  or  as 
little  as  now?  "  There  are  old  gentlemen  who  hear  me  to-day,  whose 
memories  go  back  to  a  better  time;  to  a  period -when  there  was  such 
pure  statesmanship,  and  such  exalted  official  integrity,  as  inspired  the 
world  with  a  higher  confidence  in  free  republican  institutions ;  to  a 
period  when  one  single  case  of  default  aroused  the  indignation  of  the 
whole  country,  and  precipitated  the  downfall  of  an  Administration. 

What  say  you  to  the  oft-repeated  apology  that  they  are  active  and 
zealous  in  detecting,  pursuing,  and  punishing  criminal  officials  ?  Their 
zeal  and  activity  may  be  admitted,  for  there  is  so  much  to  do.  But, 
when  they  suppress  fraud  in  one  quarter,  it  breaks  out  in  another. 
In  that  respect,  the  body  politic,  under  their  treatment,4  seems  to  be 
like  the  body  of  a  man  whose  follies  and  vices  have  brought  upon 
him  disease  which  pervades  his  whole  system.  If,  by  the  skill  of  the 
physician,  it  be  subdued  in  one  part,  it  soon  appears  in  another.  But 
the  statement  that  they  punish  their  guilty  must  be  denied.  Who 
has  been  punished  ?  There  was  the  case  of  a  paymaster  at  Washing 
ton  City,  who,  for  the  embezzlement  of  above  $400,000  of  the  public 
money,  was  tried  by  court-martial  and  sentenced  to  the  penitentiary, 
but  President  Grant  pardoned  him  within  a  year,  and  the  money  was 
never  returned.  On  the  contrary,  how  many  partisans,  implicated 
in  transactions  which  the  people  have  condemned,  have  been  pro 
moted  to  high  offices?  The  Tweed  defense  has  served  them  well.  It 


412  THE   LIFE   OF   THOMAS  A.   HENDRICKS. 

matters  not  how  many  official  criminals  there  may  be,  Tweed  is  set 
off  against  each.  Tweed's  mantle  has  fallen  over  and  covered  from 
sight  more  crimes  than  any  mantle  that  ever  fell  from  human  shoul 
ders.  Are  you,  honest  gentlemen,  not  tired  of  that  trick  ?  Why  not 
let  every  man,  rogue  or  s#int  as  he  may  be,  stand  in  his  own  shoes 
and  be  judged  by  his  own  conduct  ? 

CHANGE  THE  ONLY  KEMEDY. 

Do  you  not  perceive,  my  fellow-citizens,  that  for  all  public  evils 
your  only  remedy  is  in  a  change  of  Administration  ?  This  you  know, 
that  when  a  party  has  been  long  in  power  and  controls  great  patron 
age  and  large  sums  of  money,  all  adventurers  and  those  who  seek  to 
make  money  out  of  politics  work  their  way,  not  only  within  its  ranks, 
but  into  positions  of  influence  and  party  control.  Naturally  enough, 
they  become  active  managers,  giving '  their  money  liberally,  and  by- 
taking  charge  of  primary  elections  and  conventions  they  control,  in 
many  instances,  the  nominations.  Their  hold  is  hard  to  break,  and 
it  becomes  the  interest  .of  politicians  to  conciliate  rather  than  to  fight 
them.  That  is  the  reason,  as  I  suppose,  why  it  is  so  difficult,  if  not 
impossible,  for  a  party  to.  correct  abuses  and  evils  within  its  own 
organization.. 

That  you  are  convinced  there  should  be  a  change  of  national  Ad 
ministration,  I  cannot  question.  Such  changes  are  made  upon  assur 
ances  of  better  conduct,  and  of  measures  more  consistent  with. the 
interests  of  the  people.  You  may  be  misled,  but  in  all  efforts  at  re 
form  we  must  trust  each  other  somewhat.  Deceived,  disappointed, 
and  dissatisfied,  will  you  avail  yourselves  of  your  only  remedy  ?  I 
appreciate  the  fact  that  former  convictions,  prejudices,  and  associa 
tions,  stand  in  the  way  of  thousands  of  good  men,  whose  sympathies 
are  with  the  Democracy  and  Liberals  upon  the  pending  questions.  I 
cannot  doubt  that  their  present  convictions  in  respect  to  the  welfare 
of  the  country  will  control  their  action.  They  know  that,  even  in 
times  of  the  most  bitter  conflict,  they  respect  many  of  the  sentiments 
of  our  party,  especially  those  in  earnest  sympathy  with  the  interests 
of  the  masses  of  the  people.  They  cannot  and  will  not  remain  sepa 
rate  from  the  organized  body  of  men  that  will  give  these  sentiments 
practical  force  and  meaning.  They  know  that  our  principles  will 
endure  and  bring  practical  results.  May  I  quote  myself  in  saying 
that  "organizations  maybe  broken  and  pass  away,  but  Democracy 
cannot  die.  It  is  endowed  with  the  immortality  of  truth  and  right. 


SPEECH  AT  ZANESVILLE.  413 

"Wherever,  in  all  lands,  men  aspire  to  higher,  freer,  better  govern 
ment,  and  purer  liberty ;  wherever  there  is  the  sentiment  that  govern 
ment  is  made  for  man,  and  not  man  for  government,  there  is  the  spirit 
of  Democracy  that  will  endure  and  yet  achieve  man's  enfranchise 
ment  and  elevation."  He  was  a  great  man  who  said,  "  There  can  be 
no  free  government  without  a  democratical  branch  in  the  constitu 
tion."  May  I  not  add,  "  There  can  be  no  free  policies  or  adminis 
trative  measures,  promoting  popular  rights,  without  the  democratical 
element  and  sentiment  ?  " 

On  all  questions  of  state  policy,  Mr.  Hendricks,  during 
his  public  career,  has  shown  a  thorough  and  masterly  knowl 
edge.  There  is  perhaps  no  one  matter  upon  which  he  has 
been  more  solicitous  than  the  school-system  of  Indiana.  As 
a  member  of  the  Constitutional  Convention,  he  was  active  in 
securing  ample  provision  for  popular  education,  and  placing 
its  support  beyond  the  vicissitudes  of  politics.  Impressed 
with  the  value  of  the  work  then  accomplished,  he  has  since 
repeatedly  insisted  upon  the  most  anxious  watchfulness  over 
the  growth  and  perfection  of  the  system,  and  relaxed  in  its 
favor  hi's  Democratic  prejudices  toward  strict  construction  and 
economy.  This  subject  Mr.  Hendricks  touches  upon  in  his 
letter  of  acceptance,  and  sets  forth  his  views  in  a  statesman 
like  manner. 


Of    THE 
* 
OF 

"RHyfe! 


CHAPTER  IV. 

SPEECH    AT    PHILADELPHIA. 

the  fall  of  1875  Governor  Hendricks  accepted  an 
invitation  to  speak  in  Philadelphia,  under  the  auspices  of  the 
Americus  Club.  His  address  was  delivered  on  the  evening  of 
Friday,  October  22d.  It  was  a  superior  effort,  and  won  for 
the  Indiana  statesman  many  warm  admirers  in  the  City  of 
Brotherly  Love.  The  speech  is  appended  : 

ME.  PEESIDENT  AND  FELLOW^  CITIZENS  :  In  my  visit  to  your  great 
city,  I  had  no  purpose  of  participating  in  the  political  contest  that 
is  in  progress  in  your  State.  1  came  here  upon  the  invitation  of  the 
merchants  of  your  city,  to  see  what  progress  had  been  made  in  the 
preparations  for  the  great  celebration  which  is  to  take  place  next 
year.  From  the  time  that  Congress  announced  the  fact  that  next 
year  would  be  celebrated  as  the  one-hundredth  of  our  independence 
and  establishment  as  a  nation,  my  interest  in  the  success  of  your 
celebration  has  been  most  sincere  and  heart-felt;  and  when  a  dele 
gation  from  a  portion  of  the  country  from  which  I  come  prepared 
to  visit  you  with  a  view  to  ascertaining  whether  that  celebration  was 
likely  to  prove  a  great  success,  I  cheerfully  joined  them,  and  appeared 
in  your  city,  not  for  the  purpose  of  discussing  politics,  but  in  order 
that  I  might  give  any  help  of  which  I  might  be  capable  toward  the 
celebration  of  the  great  event  which  is  to  commemorate  the  estab 
lishment  of  free  government  in  America.  [Great  applause.]  In  In 
diana,  we,  who  have  been  very  earnestly  in  favor  of  the  success  of 
the  celebration,  have  encountered  one  serious  difficulty,  and  I  allude 
to  it  in  this  connection,  inasmuch  as  it  has  a  direct  application  to 
your  city.  On  the  part  of  some  of  the  people  of  the  West,  there 
has  been  a  sense  of  distrust  and  apprehension  lest  the  Exhibition 
would  not  be  honestly  managed  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia.  And 
why?  Because  it  has  been  understood  out  in  our  part  of  the  world 


SPEECH  AT  PHILADELPHIA.    .  415 

that  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia  there  was  no  longer  honesty  in  pub 
lic  affairs,  and  especially  was  it  understood  that  there  was  no  longer 
honesty  in  your  elections ;  and  so  it  has"  come  to  be  an  injury  to 
Philadelphia,  that  in  respect  to  her  elections  she  should  be  known  as 
a  city  in  which  the  manipulation  of  the  ballot-box,  rather  than  the 
comparative  merits  of  opposing  candidates,  decides  the  result.  Phil 
adelphia  should  vindicate  her  right  to  recognition  as  a  city  of  hon 
est  government,  because  she  had 'her  birth  under  influences  of  the 
most  exemplary  character,  and  such  as  were  calculated:  to  insure  in 
tegrity  in  respect  to  every  public  matter.  A  society  preeminent  for 
integrity  of  purpose  and  uprightness  of  character  laid  the  foundations 
of  Philadelphia's  greatness,  and  I  deem  it  to  be  the  paramount  duty 
of  the  Democracy  and  the  Conservative  men  of  Philadelphia  to  re 
establish  for  this  great  city  a  reputation  for  integrity  in  everything 
that  affects  the  public  welfare.  [Cheers.]  Allow  me  to  say  one 
thing  further  on  this  subject.  The  character  of  Philadelphia  in  re 
spect  to  the  integrity  of  her  elections  is  not  a  matter  which  con 
cerns  Philadelphia  alone  ;  this  great  city  reaches  out  in,  her  influence 
and  in  her  commerce,  clear  to  the  distant  State  from  which  I  come. 
You  have  your  commercial  and  business  relations  with  the  Great 
West ;  and  throughout  the  Great  West  we  have  a  pride  and  an  interest 
in  the  honor  and  fair  fame  of  this  mighty  municipality ;  and  now, 
when  the  main  effort  of  the  Democracy  is  to  restore  honesty  in 
all  the  departments  of  the  public  service,  city,  State,  and  national,  it 
seems  to  me  proper  that  I  should  suggest  this  consideration  in  intro 
ducing  my  remarks.  I  am  gratified  now  to  believe,  as  I  do,  that  the 
Centennial  celebration  is  in  honest  hands,  wholly  separate  from  cor 
rupt  influences,  and  that  it  merits  public  confidence. 

For  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  our  country,  a  political  party 
has  dared  openly  to  avow  its  purpose  of  carrying  the  elections  by  the 
use  of  money.  All  of  you  have  doubtless  seen  in  print  the  letter  is 
sued  by  Mr.  Edmunds,  the  Postmaster  of  Washington  City,  who  is 
also  the.  Secretary  of  the  National  Republican  Executive  Committee, 
in  which  that  official  calls  upon  all  the  office-holders  of  the  United 
States  to  contribute  money  for  political  purposes.  Eighty  thousand 
office-holders  have  been  called  upon,  and  I  dare  say  have  responded 
to  the  call.  Indeed,  that  their  responses  were  promptly  made  will 
not  be  doubted,  when  it  is  reflected  that  that  call  meant  "your  office 
or  your  money."  It  is  almost  identical  with  the  highwayman's  de 
mand,  "  Your  money  or  your  life,"  and  so  the  money  was  contributed. 


416  THE   LIFE    OF   THOMAS  A.   HENDRICKS. 

Primarily  it  was  to  be  used  in  the  mighty  State  of  Oliip.  It  was 
used  there,  and  with  what  result  is  known  to  all  of  us.  The  tremen 
dous  contest  shook  the  Great  West,  for  it  was  a  contest  between  free 
men  and  money.  [Long-continued  cheers.]  Money  won  it  by  four 
thousand,  but  it  is  the  last  victory  it  will  ever  achieve  in  the  West. 
[Boisterous  approbation.]  And  how  is  it  to  be  in  Pennsylvania — in 
this  great  State  ?  Is  money  or  truth'  the  stronger  ?  The  Democracy 
rely  upon  the  force  of  truth  ;  the  opposition  upon  organization,  upon 
the  influence  .and  power  of  office,  but  more  especially  upon  the  power 
of  money.  We  read  that  centuries  ago  an  Eastern  monarch  decided 
a  debate  that  took  place  before  him  by  awarding  the  reward  of  the 
victor  to  him  who  contended  that  of  the  three  great  controlling  in 
fluences,  money,  woman,  and  truth,  the  last  mentioned  was  the 
strongest.  That  was  far  back  in  the  world's  history,  and  now,  when 
under  the  refulgent  light  of  the  nineteenth  century  we  olaim  to  be 
living  in  a  higher  civilization,  how  is  the  same  controversy  to  be 
determined  ?  Is  money  or  truth  the  stronger  in  this  free  land  of 
ours? 

How  does  this  debate  stand  before  the  people  of  Pennsylvania  ? 
For  many  years  a  great  and  powerful  political  party  has  held  the 
control  of  national  and  State  affairs.  In  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States  it  had  a  majority  which  defied  the  presidential  veto  and  de 
fied  the  influence  of  the  vote  of  the  Democrats.  They  have  controlled 
and  fashioned  politics  in  this  State,  where  they  controlled  the  public 
appropriations.  How  is  it,  then,  when  they  come  before  the  intelli 
gent  people  of  Pennsylvania?  Shall  they  continue  in  this  power? 
Or  shall  they  render  an  account  of  their  exercise  of  it  in  the  past? 
Who  says  the  Democracy  are  on  the  defensive  in  this  great  argument? 
We  have  not  been  in  power,  and. could  not  control  the  public  policy. 
They  have ;  and  for  whatever  consequences  have  followed  from  their 
policy  they  are  chargeable.  A  few  years  ago  they  claimed  that  their 
policy  was  beneficial;  that  the  currency  was. good  in  all  parts  of  the 
country ;  that  high  wages  prevailed  and  labor  was  productive ;  that 
everything  was  prosperous,  and  that  they  were  entitled  to  the  credit. 
This  was  the  result,  they  said,  of  Republican  government  and  admin 
istration.  But  as  they  claimed  the  reward  for  prosperity  then,  so 
now,  when  we  are  surrounded,  not  by  prosperity,  but  by  adversity, 
they  must,  by  all  fair  reasoning,  be  held  responsible.  And  let  them 
account  for  the  condition  in  which  we  find  ourselves.  Why.  is  it 
that  labor  seeks  employment  instead  of  employment  seeking  labor  ? 


SPEECH  AT  PHILADELPHIA.  417 

Why  is  it  that  the  products  of  the  country  seek  a  market  instead  of 
the  market  seeking  the  products  ?  "Why  is  it  that  in  every  part  of 
this  great  country  hard  times  are  pressing  close  upon  every  family 
except  in  particular  classes  ?  And  this,  too,  in  a  country  such  as  no 
other  people  can  boast,  when  every  acre  of  soil  is  productive,  when 
we  ought  to  be  all  prosperous.  Why  are  we  not  prosperous?  Let 
the  Republican  managers  who  ask  a  continuance  in  power  answer 
that  question.  Before  they  can  take  another  step  in  advance,  they 
must  satisfy  the  people  that  they  have  honestly  and  fairly  cared  for 
the  prosperity  of  the  country.  Have  they  made  that  answer  ?  In 
the  city,  State,  and  nation,  have  they  shown  their  responsibility  for 
the  expenses  being  so  great,  ay,  enormous — why  it  is  that  taxation 
is  so  burdensome,  the  earnings  of  labor  so  contracted?  Let  them 
answer  that  question  before  they  demand  a  continuance  of  power. 

There  are  some  questions  which  should  be  answered  now — not  as 
if  the  Democracy  occupied  in  this  controversy  a  defensive  position, 
but  upon  the  fair  argument  that  the  party  which  has  had  the  power 
must  respond  to  the  people  for  the  manner  in  which  that  power 
has  been  exercised. 

In  respect  to  the  finances  of  the  country,  I  have  a  little  to  say  to 
you  to-night,  not  with  reference  to  any  policy  of  the  Democratic 
party — when  that  party  comes  into  power  it  will  be  its  mission  to  pro 
mote  business  and  enterprise  by  a  good  currency,  sufficient  for  the 
country's  business  [applause],  ~by  a  good  currency — [cheers] ;  but  the 
question  to-night  is,  What  is  the  policy  of  the  Republican  party  in 
respect  to  the  finances  of  the  country?  and  that  policy,  in  my  judg 
ment,  is  found  in  two  acts  of  Congress.  The  first  of  these,  passed 
on  the  14th  day  of  June,  1867,  provided  for  free  banking ;  but  at  the 
same  time  it  provided  that  the  greenback  currency  should  remain  at 
three  hundred  and  eighty-two  millions  of  dollars  ($382,000,000). 
When  the  debate  upon  that  bill  was  progressing,  a  distinguished  Sena 
tor  announced  to  the  Senate  that  the  fair  construction  of  the  measure 
would  be,  that  there  was  to  be  no  reduction  of  the  greenback  cur 
rency  below  $382,000,000 ;  and  that  statement  was  made  by  a  Sena 
tor  from  my  own  State — a  Republican  Senator.  They  passed  the 
bill,  and  the  country  acquiesced  in  it,  in  the  belief  that  that  law, 
especially  for  the  time,  did  fix  the  greenback  currency  at  $382,000,- 
000.  But  before  eight  months  rolled  around  a  new  measure  was 
introduced  into  the  Congress  of  the  United  States — a  measure  con 
trary  to  the  policy  of  the  act  of  1874.  I  speak  now  of  the  act  of  the 


418  THE   LIFE   OF  THOMAS  A.   HENDRICKS. 

14th  day  of  January,  1875,  commonly  known  as  the  resumption  law 
— a  law  providing  for  a  return  to  specie  payments.  I  have  a  little  to 
say  to  you  in  respect  to  that  law.  It  received  the  vote  of  .every  Re 
publican  Senator  except  one.  Every  Democrat  in  the  Senate  voted 
against  it,  and  I  believe  every  Democrat  in  the  House  also  voted 
against  it.  It  was  a  square  party  issue.  And  why,  I  ask  you,  was 
it  adopted  ?  We  find  the  answer  in  a  speech  that  was  made  in  the 
State  of  Ohio,  very  recently,  by  Mr.  Senator  Sherman,  chairman  of 
the  Finance  Committee  of  the  Senate.  He  stated  in  his  speech,  in 
opening  the  canvass  in  Ohio,  that  the  act  of  January  last  was  passed 
because  the  fortunes  of  the  Republican  party  required  it.  He  stated 
in  that  speech  that  a  year  ago  the  Republican  party  went  into  the 
contest  in  all  the  elections  in  the  country  without  any  policy  upon 
the  finances,  and  that  they  were  beaten  all  along  the  line,  and  that, 
when  they  met  in  Congress  the  following  session,  they  had  been 
taught  by  those  defeats  the  necessity  of  having  a  policy,  and  so  they 
decided  upon  this  bill  as  the  policy  of  the  Republican  party ;  and  Mr. 
Sherman,  in  the  speech  to  which  I  refer,  stated  to  the  people  of  Ohio 
that  that  bill  made  a  fixed  policy,  and  that  there  was  no  step  back 
ward.  My  opinion  is,  that  from  that  bill  there  will  be  "  a  step  back 
ward."  [Deafening  cheers.]  It  is  rather  extraordinary  that  a  lead 
ing  member  of  a  great  political  party  should  say  to  the  people  that  a 
bill  has  been  passed  to  establish  a  party  policy ;  and  yet  the  chairman 
of  the  Finance  Committee  of  the  United  States  Senate  says  to  the 
-people  of  the  country,  "  The  Republican  party  needed  a  policy,  and 
therefore  we  passed  the  finance  bill  of  January,  1875."  Now,  what 
is  that  bill  ?  The  first  section  of  the  bill  directs  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  to  redeem  the  fractional  currency  of  the  country  and  sup 
ply  its  place  with  silver  coin.  The  last  section  of  the  bill  directs  that 
he  shall  redeem  on  the  first  day  of  January,  1879,  all  the  outstanding 
legal-tender  notes  with  gold.  Now,  the  fractional  currency  last 
month,  according  to  the  report  of  the  Treasury  Department,  was 
about  $41,000,000,  and  the  legal  tenders  amounted  to  $373,000,000. 
So  this  resumption  law  of  last  winter  requires  that  with  coin  the 
currency  of  the  country  shall  be  taken  up  and  redeemed  to  a  sum 
amounting  to  more  than  $400,000,000.  The  question  recurs  to  each 
one  of  .you,  How  is  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to  redeem  the  cur 
rency  of  the  country  with  coin?  There  is  no  gold  in  the  Treasury 
for  that  purpose ;  there  is  no  silver  in  the  Treasury  for  the  purpose 
of  redeeming  the  fractional  currency.  That  very  question  presented 


SPEECH  AT  PHILADELPHIA.  419 

itself  to  Congress  as  it  presents  itself  to  your  minds  to-night ;  and 
therefore,  in  the  last  section  of  the  bill,  Congress  provides  that -the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  in  order  to  redeem  with  coin,  shall  sell 
United  States  bonds  in  such  quantity  as  shall  be  sufficient  to  enable 
him  to  do  this.  In  order  to  raise  the  gold  and  the  silver  with  which 
to  take  up  the  fractional  currency  and  the  legal-tender  notes,  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  will  probably  be  required  to  sell  United 
States  five  per  cent,  bonds  amounting  to  $400,000,000 ;  and  the 
direct  effect  of  this  bill  is  to  Increase  the  national  debt  in  gold-bear 
ing  bonds,  at  the  interest  of  five  per  cent.,  to  the  extent  of  $400,000,- 
000,  and  to  increase  the  annual  interest  in  gold  at  the  rate  of  $20,- 
000,000.  In  my  statement  on  a  former  occasion  I  estimated  it  at 
about  $17,000,000,  but  the  Treasury  report  made  in  September  au 
thorizes  the  conclusion  that  it  will  require  a  sale  of  bonds  exceeding 
$400,000,000,  and  the  increase  of  our  annual  interest  about  $20,000,- 
000.  Are  you  prepared  for  that,  my  countrymen  ?  Are  the  men  of 
Pennsylvania  prepared  to  add  to  the  gold  debt  of  the  country  the 
enormous  sum  of  $400,000,000  for  the  purpose  of  taking 'up  the  legal- 
tender  and  fractional  currency  of  the  country  ?  It  is  an  important 
question;  but  a, very  material  inquiry  in  connection  with  it  is  this: 
"  Where  are  these  bonds  sold  ?  "  Of  the  bonds  already  sold  I  suppose 
that  up  to  this  time  not  one  single  bond  has  been  sold  in  the  United 
States.  It  has  been  the  policy  of  this  Administration  to  negotiate 
the  sale  of- our  bonds  abroad.  That  negotiation  takes  place  through 
a  combination  of  banks  called,  the  syndicate ;  and  the  bonds  are  not 
sent  to  Philadelphia,  they  are  'not  sent  to  New  York,  they  are  not 
sent  to  Indianapolis,  inviting  the  people  of  this  country  to  purchase 
them,  but  they  are  sent  directly  to  England  and  sold  to  foreigners ; 
and  the  effect  is  to  add  to  our  foreign  debt  $400,000,000,  and  to  our 
annual  interest  abroad  $20,000,000.  Are  you  prepared  for  this? 
Some  men  talk  about  the  Democracy  not  being  true  to  the  public 
credit.  I  say  that  the  man  who  unnecessarily  proposes  to  increase 
the  national  debt — the  interest-bearing,  the  gold-bearing  debt  .of  the 
country  abroad — is,  of  all  men,  the  man  who  endangers  the  public 
credit.  [Series  of  cheers.] 

Who,  I  ask,  wants  the  legal-tenders  all  to  be  redeemed,  when  by 
so  doing  you  bring  about  such  an  increase  of  our  national  debt  and 
such  an  increase  of  our  annual  interest  abroad  ?  Have  the  people 
asked  this  ?  You  have,  perhaps,  in  your  pocket  a  legal  tender.  Have 
you  asked  Congress  to  make  provision  for  borrowing  gold  for  the 


420  THE   LIFE   OF  THOMAS  A.    HENDRICKS. 

redemption  of  that  legal  tender  ?  Are  you  not  satisfied  with  the 
legal  tender  as  a  currency?  I  would  rejoice  if  all  the  paper  currency 
were  equal  to  gold,  and  I  look  forward  to  the  time  when  all  the 
money  of  the  country  shall  .be  of  equal  value  with  gold.  [Cheers.] 
But  I  do  not  look  for  the  attainment  of  that  desirable  result  through 
the  borrowing  of  gold.  I  do  not  believe  that  a  permanent,  sure,  and 
reliable  return  to  specie  payment  can  be  accomplished  upon  borrowed 
gold.  I  think  that  before  we  return  to  specie  payment  we  must  have 
gold  that  will  remain  in  the  country.  [Applause.]  Four  hundred 
millions  of  increase  to  our  debt  for  the  purpose  of  taking  up  the  legal 
tenders !  The  legal  tenders  will  be  made  par  with  gold  when  we 
shall  have  restored  the  industries  of  this  country,  and  returned  to 
economy  in  all  expenditures,  public  and  private,  so  that  the  tendency 
of  gold  shall  be  toward  our  own  shores  and  not  from  us.  [Applause.] 
For  the  present,  what  objection  have  you  to  the  legal  tenders?  The 
only  objection  is,  that  they  are  not  on  a  par  with  gold.  Have  not  the 
legal  tenders  been  the  active  and  faithful  servants  of  the  people  ? 
Have  you  stopped  to  consider  the  circumstances  under  which  they 
were  issued?  It  was  in  1862  that  the  first  legal  .tenders  were  pro 
vided  for.  At  that  time  there  was  not  sufficient  gold  in  the  country 
to  meet  the  requirements  of  the  public  service.  The  soldiers  upon  the 
line  of  battle  could  not  be  paid  in"  gold,  because  the  Government 
could  not  obtain  gold  in  sufficient  quantity ;  and  to  meet  'that  exi 
gency  of  the  public  service  the  act  of  February,  1862,  was  passed, 
authorizing  the  issue  of  the  legal  tenders,  and"  they  were  issued. 
Upon  their  face  there  is  the  promise  of  the  Government  to  pay  ;  upon 
the  back  of  them  is  stamped  the  quality  of  money,  that  they  shall  be 
a  legal  tender ;  and  the  act  of  Congress  declares  them  to  be  lawful 
money.  "Why  was  that  done  ?  Because  the  soldier  receiving  his 
money  down  upon  the  line  of  battle  needed  to  send  it  home  to  his 
wife  that  she  might  pay  off  his  debts,  that  it  might  meet  the  necessi 
ties  of  the  family  ;  and  so  it  became. necessary,  in  order  to  promote 
the  public  service,  that  upon  these  bills  should  be  stamped  the  quality 
of  money,  that  it  should  pass  as  money ;  and  it  paid  the  soldier,  paid 
the  soldier's  debts,  and  from  that  time  to  this  it  has  been  the  active  ser 
vant  of  the  people.  From  pocket  to  pocket  it  has  gone,  and  oh  !  how 
many  stories  this  bill  could  tell  if  it  only  had  ears  to  hear  and  a  mouth 
to  speak !  [Laughter  and  cheers.]  How  many  debts  it  has  paid  off; 
how  much  property  it  has  purchased ;  but  it  has  never  been  stopped 
nor  questioned  until  now.  Eight  now,  when  the  country  is  in  the  midst 


SPEECH  AT  PHILADELPHIA.  421 

of  a  panic— when  all  industry  is  stagnant— now  it  is  proposed  to  de 
clare  this  to  be  bad  money,  questionable  money  ;  and  even,  it  is  said? 
the  Government  must  increase  our  national  debt  in  order  to  redeem 
it.  I  would  be  glad  if  that  bill  were  equal  in  value  with  gold,  but, 
with  great  respect  to  Congress,  I  do  not  believe  that  it  is  within  the 
power  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  to  make  my  dollar  bill 
equal  to  your  gold  dollar,  unless  the  laws  of  trade  and  commerce  give 
it  that  value.  [Tumultuous  enthusiasm,  culminating  in  a  series  of 
cheers.] 

And  when  any  political  party  tell  you  that  that  can  be  accomplished 
by  an  arbitrary  edict  of  Congress,  they  mislead  the  people.  There 
is  a  higher  power  than  Congress — it  is  the  power  of  the  trade  and 
commerce  of  the  country.  But  let  us  look  at  some  of  the  other  con 
sequences  of  this  bill.  In  the  first  place,  in  my  judgment,  it  is  to 
produce  a  contraction  of  the  currency  of  the  country,  wjiich  the 
business  of  the  country  cannot  endure.  As  the  first  day  of  January, 
1879,  the  time  for  the  redemption  of  greenbacks,  shall  approach,  what 
will  be  the  natural  effect  of  the  law  ?  Every  man  who  has  money 
that  he  wishes  to  lay  aside  and  keep  out  of  active  employment  and 
industry,  will  put  that  money  into  greenbacks,  so  that  he  may  have 
the  benefit  of  the  advancing  value,  and  thus  the  banks,  that  have  to 
redeem  their  currency  in  gold  or  in  legal  tenders,  will  put  away  the 
greenbacks  to  meet  the  exigency  when  gold  alone  remains  available 
for  redemption.  The  effect  of  the  bill  is  to  retire  the  legal-tender 
currency  of  the  country,  and  to  .reduce  the  currency,  upon  which  the 
business  and  enterprise  of  the  country  are  carried  on,  from  one-third  to 
one-half  at  least.  What  is  the  advantage  of  it  ?  What  has  been  the 
effect  of  it  up  to  to  this  time  ?  I  believe  that,  when  this  bill  was  passed, 
gold  was  about  ten  or  eleven  cents.  It  is  to-day,  as  I  understand,  fif 
teen  cents.  This  policy  of  the  Republican  party  in  Congress,  which 
was  intended  to  bring  gold  and  paper  nearer  together,  has  had  the  ef 
fect  to  increase  the  distance  bet  ween  the  two,  and  the  present  premium 
on  gold  is  one  evidence  of  the  results  of  the  Eepublican  policy  that 
proposes  to  give  stability  to  our  currency  and  firmness  to  our  business. 
Without  contraction  and  without  inflation,  I  believe  the  business  and 
enterprise  of  the  country  should  be  allowed  to  recover  their  impaired 
strength. 

To  the  business-men  of  Philadelphia  I  put  the  question  :  Can  you 
trust  a  party  that  introduced  and  enacted  a  measure  so  illy  considered 
as  this  which  disturbs  the  whole  business  of  the  people  ? 


432  THE  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  A.   HENDRICKS.  . 

Now,  my  countrymen,  I  will  tell  you  wljen  we  can  return  to 
specie  payment,  as  I  think.  It  will  be  when  we  have  a  policy  that 
promotes  production,  when  our  sales  abroad  shall  exceed  our  pur 
chases  abroad ;  when  the  gold  comes  to  us  instead  of  going  from  us. 
"When  these  things  have  come  to  pass,  we  will  then  soon  see  a  return 
to  specie  payment.  [Long-contimied  cheering.]  It  would  be  a 
gratification  if  I  could  tell  you  to-night  that  at  a  certain  time  all  the 
currency  of  the  country  would  be  of  equal  value,  but,  in  treating  the 
subject  in  a  practical  way,  it  is  my  duty  to  present  to  you  the  diffi 
culties  in  the  way  of  a  return  to  specie  payments.  These  difficulties, 
in  my  judgment,  are  due  to  the  impediments  which  have  been  placed 
in  the  way  of  a  return  to  specie  payments  by  the  policy  of  the  party 
at  Washington  City. 

For  some  years  the  manifest  purpose  of  the  Republican  party,  as 
represented  by  General  Grant's  Administration,  has  been  to  make  our 
debt  a  foreign  debt.  I  do  not  say  that  the  entire  debt  could  have 
been  negotiated  in  the  United  States,  but  I  do  say  that  the  primary 
purpose  and  effort  of  the  Administration  should  have  been  to  nego 
tiate  our  bonds  at  home.  Our  bonds  have  been  sent  to  Europe  and 
sold  there ;  and  the  effect  of  this  has  been  to  make  us  as  a  nation  a 
debtor  to  foreign  bankers  and  money-holders.  I  know  of  no  policy 
that  could  have  been  more  disastrous  to  the  country.  It  is  the  very 
reverse  of  that  which  a  wise  statesmanship  and  prudent  forethought 
would  have  dictated.  Instead  of  urging  their  purchase  by  foreign 
capitalists,  the  primary  purpose  and  effort  should  have  been  to  inter 
est  the  people  of  our  own  country — you,  the  people  of  Philadelphia, 
and  the  people  of  Indiana — in  the  purchase  of  bonds,  and  to  promote 
the  sale  of  a  bond  here  and  a  bond  there,  and  of  quantities  larger  or 
smaller  at  home.  No  such  effort  has  been  madej  but  on  the  contrary, 
as  I  have  said,  all  the  efforts  of  the  Administration  have  tended  solely 
to  the  sale  of  our  bonds  abroad  ;  and  now  every  pay-day  the  interest 
must  be  sent  to  foreign  countries ;  and  to  this  extent  the  life-blood 
is  drawn  from  the  veins  and  arteries  of  the  business  of  the  country. 
[Applause.]  An  illustration  of  the  evil  influence  of  this  policy  Occurs 
to  me  in  the  case  of  Ireland.  That  country  might  have  been  among 
the  richest.  Her  soil  is  good,  her  climate  delightful  and  promotive 
of  health  and  strength ;  but  Ireland  was  impoverished,  because  her 
lands  were  held  in  large  quantities,  and  because  the  landlords  ex 
pended  their  rents  in  extravagant  living  in  foreign  parts.  If  the  rents 
of  Ireland  had  been  expended  in  Ireland,  her  prosperity  would  have 


SPEECH  .AT   PHILADELPHIA.  .    423 

been  far  greater  than  it  has  been.  So  on  the  Pacific  coast  to-day 
we  are  feeling  the  effects  of  a  similar  influence. 

The  Chinaman  there  will  labor  at  a  much  lower  rate  of  wages 
than  will  the  American,  but  he  lives  at  much  cheaper  rates,  and  the 
gold  that  he  can  save  from  his  earnings  he  sends  off  to  China.  This 
is  an  influence  that  is  very  destructive  to  the  prosperity  and  develop 
ment  of  the  Pacific  coast. 

Our  Government,  then,  in  so  far  as  it  could,  negotiating  our  debt 
altogether  abroad,  has  followed  a  policy  which,  in  the  case  of  Ireland 
and  of  our  Pacific  coast,  has  Developed  such  lamentable  results. 
[Enthusiasm.]  England  to-day  owes,  I  believe,  a  larger  debt  than 
that  which  we  owe,  but  England  scarcely  feels  the  burden,  because  her 
debt  is  held  by  Englishmen.  The  French  debt  is  held  by  French 
men,  and  so  far  as  Germany  has  any  debt  it  is  held  by  Germans.  • 

I  Jbelieve  the  United  States  to-day  stands  alone  as  the  only  one 
of  the  great  powers  of  the  world  whose  bonds  are  held  nearly  ex 
clusively  by  foreigners. 

Now,  I  have  referred  to  this  feature  of  party  policy,  as  showing 
one  of  the  great  impediments  in  the  way  of  a  return  to  specie  pay 
ments.  But  glance  for  a  moment  at  the  other  side  of  the  picture : 
suppose  that  our  bonds  were  held  in  our  own  country,  then  every 
pay-day  the  interest  would  come  to  our  own  people,  and  pass  at 
once  into  the  channels  of  trade,  stimulating  and  encouraging  the 
business  and  enterprise  of  'the  country  ;  but,  so  long  as  the  gold  goes 
from  us,  a  return  to  specie  payments  is  by  that  very  influence  ren 
dered  every  year  more  difficult.  Let  me  illustrate  the  possibility 
of  negotiating  our  loan  among  our  own  people.  Perhaps  I  cannot 
better  do  this  than  by  repeating  a  statement  which  attracted  my 
notice  very  recently  in  respect  to  the  State  of  Georgia.  When,  a 
few  years  ago,  the  people  of  Georgia  finally  obtained  control  of  their 
own  affairs,  they  found  the  State  finances  in  a  very  disturbed  condi 
tion  ;  and,  in  order  to  provide  for  the  payment  of  the  interest  on  the 
debt  and  for  other  pressing  obligations,  it  was  necessary  for  them  to 
borrow  $1,000,000.  The  State  authorities  issued  bonds  to  the  amount 
of  $1,200,000,  in  the  expectation  that  the  Treasurer  of  the  State 
would  be  able  to  realize  upon  this  amount,  in  the  city  of  New  York, 
about  $1,000,000.  The  Treasurer,  upon  attempting  to  negotiate  the 
bonds  in  New  York,  found  that  the  credit  of  Georgia  had  been  so 
much  impaired  that  he  could  not  sell  a  bond.  He  returned  home 
with  the  bonds,  and  then  it  was  decided  to  appeal  to  the  people  of 


424  THE  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  A.   HENDRICKS. 

Georgia ;  the  bonds  were  accordingly  advertised  among  the  people, 
and  the  consequence  was,  that  one  man  took  one,  and  another  man 
took  another,  and  this  or  that  guardian  or  trustee  with  money  to  in 
vest  took  a  number  of  them,  until  finally  the  entire  loan  was  taken 
by  the  people  of  Georgia,  notwithstanding  that  that  people  were 
then  comparatively  very  poor.  I  refer  to  this  incident}  simply  as 
showing  what  it  is  possible  to  accomplish,  when  an  honest  and  ear 
nest  effort  is  made  to  interest  the  people  of  a  country  in  the  work  of 
carrying  their  own  debt.  [Great  cheering.]  The  bonds  thus  sold  to 
the  people  of  Georgia  are  held  in  that  State  to-day,  and,  as  the  state 
ment  to  which  I  have  alluded  showed,  cannot  now  be  purchased  of 
their  holders  at  par.- 

In  this  connection  I  mnst  speak  'of  the  policy  of  the  leaders  in 
their  treatment  of  the  South.  You  may  not  realize  the  very  intimate 
connection  that  exists  between  that  policy  and  an  early  return  to 
specie  payments,  and  it  is  for  that  reason  that  I  here  refer  to  it.  You 
know  from  the  reports  of  the  Treasury  Department  that,  of  the  sales 
we  make  abroad,  more  than  one-half  in  value  is  of  cotton  and  to 
bacco.  We  boast  of  our  wheat-crop  and  of  the  productions  of  our 
rich  lands  in  the  Northwest,  and  these  are  very  great,  and  they  serve 
to  make  us  a  rich  people,  but  with  regard  to  all  these  products  a 
large  market  is  found  at  home,  while  our  great  staples  that  control 
the  foreign  markets  are  cotton  and  tobacco.  Now,  at  the  close  of  the 
war,  in  view  of  our  extraordinary  situation,  having  an  immense  debt 
to  meet  and  an  enormous  taxation  to  carry,  was  it  not  the  part  of 
statesmanship  and  wisdom  to  encourage  the  production  of  cotton  and 
tobacco,  and  rice  and  sugar,  in  the  largest  possible  quantities.  A 
bale  of  cotton  rolled  from  the  ship  on  to  the  wharf  at  Liverpool  is 
gold,  for  the  coin  value  of  it  comes  back  to  us  in  the  next  steamer. 
A  package  of  tobacco  landed  at  Havre,  in  France,  is  gold,  for  the 
Government  of  France  buys  our  tobacco,  and,  if  desired,  the  gold  for 
it  comes  back  in  the  next  returning  steamer.  If  we  could  only  sell 
two  bales  of  cotton  and  two  caddies  of  tobacco  where  now  we  sell 
but  one,  how  long,  think  you,  would  we  be  delayed  in  returning  to 
specie  payments  ?  [An  uproar  of  cheers,  and  cries  of  approbation.] 
Now,  my  fellow-citizens,  is  it  not  very  plain  to  you  that  the  dictate 
of  statesmanship  was  to  encourage  the  South  by  promoting  good 
government  there,  and  thereby  accelerating  the  production  of  these 
great  staples  which  control  the  gold-market,  and  ultimately  turning 
the  current  of  gold  once  more  in  our  own  favor  ?  A  great  writer 


SPEECH  AT  PHILADELPHIA.  425 

once  said  that  he  was  the  truest  friend  of  man  who  made  two  blades 
of  grass  to  grow  where  but  one  grew  before ;  and  so,  from  the  close 
of  the  war  up  to  this  time,  it  has  been  the  dictate  of  statesmanship  to 
have  two  bales,  of  cotton,  if  possible,  where  there  was  but  one  be 
fore.  But  the  Republican  party  declared  we  should  have  but  half  a 
bale  where  before  we  had  already  one  whole  bale.  [Here  the  Gov 
ernor's  voice  was  drowned  in  the  plaudits  with  which  the  immense 
audience  ratified  his  assertion.]  They  said  to  the  country,  "It  is 
better  to  maintain  the  supremacy  of  the  Republican  party  rule  in  the 
South  than  it  is  to  promote  the  great  industries  of  the  country." 
They  disregarded  the  fact,  which  is  so  well  known  to  you,  that  the 
cotton  product  is  an  element  of  national  wealth  which  is  as  essential 
to  the  credit  of  the  North  as  of  the  South.  Why,  gentlemen,  is  not 
the  wheat  that  is  grown  upon  the  rich  lands  of  Indiana  a  part  of  the 
wealth  of  Philadelphia  as  well  as  the  wheat  that  grows  in  Chester 
County  ?  [Cheers.]  Ah,  gentlemen,  it  was  the  teaching  of  a  wise 
statesmanship  to  promote  the  industries  of  the  South,  and  it  was  the 
dictate  of  Christianity  and  of  all  religion  that  the  past  relations  of 
the  two  sections  should  be  speedily  restored.  Every  religious  or 
charitable  consideration  appealed  to  you  and  to  me,  and  to  all  of  us 
whose  ears  were  more  open  to  the  appeals  of  suffering  humanity 
than  to  the  narrow-minded  demands  of  party,  to  close  up  the  breach, 
and  said  to  us:  "The  war  is  over,  the  winds  of  heaven  have  blown 
away  the  smoke  of  the  battle  ;  we  are  one  people,  one  flag  once  more 
floats  over  us  all ;  one  Constitution  establishes  the  framework  of  gov 
ernment  for  us  all,  and  one  .destiny  awaits  us  all.  Let  us  in  heart 
and  in  hand,  in  sentiment,  in  affection,  and  fraternity,  be  again  one 
people."  [Here  the  audience  responded  to  the  patriotic  sentiments  of 
the  speaker  by  rising  tumnltuously,  and  waving  hats  and  handker 
chiefs,  while  making  the  hall  ring  with  their  fervid  huzzas.] 

I  repeat  that  stern  statesmanship  and  mild-eyed  religion  came  to 
us  together  with  one  message,  saying,  Restore  the  old  relations  of 
amity  and  concord  between  all  the  parts  of  the  distracted  country, 
and  have  prosperity  in  every  portion  thereof.  [Applause.]  But  how 
has  it  been  with  us  ?  Virginia  several  years  ago  was  able  to  recover 
her  eel f -government;  Georgia  soon  after  resumed  control  of  her  own 
affairs ;  and  finally  North  Carolina  came  in,  and  then  Texas,  and  at 
last  Arkansas ;  and,  just  as  soon  as  self-government  was  restored  to 
all  these  States,  it  "seemed  as  if  blessings  literally  rained  down  from 
heaven  upon  the  people.  They  once  more  built  up  their  waste  places ; 


426  THE   LIFE   OF  THOMAS   A.   HENDRICKS. 

the  bramble  was  taken  from  their  fields,  and  the  cotton-plant,  the 
sugar-cane,  the  tobacco-plant,  and  the  corn,  placed  in  the  ground,  and 
prosperity  reappeared.  [Cheers.] 

How  is  it  to-day  in  Mississippi  where  an  outsider  is  the  govern 
ment  ?  [Merriment.]  How  is  it  to-day  in  the  State  of  Louisiana, 
where  a  man  is  the  Governor  whom  the  people  never  did  elect  [appro 
bation],  a  man  who  is  held  in  his  position  as  Governor  by  the  military 
power  of  the  nation  ?  The  taxes  in.Louisiana  to-day  exceed  the  rental 
of  the  property.  In  the  State  of  Georgia,  since  free  government  has 
been  restored  there,  the  taxation,  as  I  have'seen  it  stated,  is  one-half  of 
one  per  cent,  upon  the  value  of  the  property.  Our  fathers  discovered 
the  true  theory  of  American  government,  and  that  was,  that  affairs 
purely  national  and  those  connecting  us  with  other  nations  should  be 
committed  to  the  Federal  authority,  but  that  local  matters  of  domestic 
policy,  and  all  those  which  reach  to  the  home-life  of  the  people,  shall 
be  left  to  the  States.  [Applause.]  And  wherever  we  stand  by  that 
doctrine  it  seems  that  Heaven  blesses  us  and  the  earth  gives  forth  her 
fruits  in  most  prolific  abundance.  Now,  I  know  of  no  greater  honor 
than  that  which  the  people  of  Indiana  did  me  three  years  ago — that 
great  people — when  they  selected  me  as  the  chief  executive  officer  of 
the  State  [great  cheering,  renewed  again  and  again,  as  the  Governor 
attempted  to  proceed] ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  I  know  no  greater 
humiliation  that  could  bend  my  head  down  to  the  dust  than  the  re 
flection  that  in  my  official  capacity  I  could  ever  appeal  to  General 
Grant  as  the  President  of  the  United  States  for  military  force  to  keep 
me  in  my  office.  [General  renewal  of  the  enthusiasm.] 

Contrast  the  States  which  have  been  cursed  by  this  Republican 
policy  with  those  which  have  escaped  it.  In  Indiana  to-day  our  taxa 
tion  for  ordinary  State  purposes,  not  including  pur  schools,  is  thirteen 
cents  on  the  one  hundred  dollars ;  in  Louisiana  the  rate  is  six  dollars 
on  the  one  hundred.  In  Indiana  the  people,  according  to  the  Amer 
ican  theory,  control  their  own  affairs,  select  the  members  of  the 
Legislature,  who  enact  laws  according  to  the  pleasure  of  their  con 
stituents,  and,  if  there  be  any  dispute  as  to  the  right  of  a  member  to  a 
seat  in  the  body  in  which  he  claims  membership,  the  body  settles  the 
question  according  to  its  sovereign  will,  and  there  is  no  violent  inter 
ference  with  that  decision.  But  in  Louisiana  a  foul  breach  was  made 
in  the  body  of  American  institutions,  and  the  blood  of  liberty  did 
flow  when  a  military  power  went  into  the  capital  of  the  State,  and  at 


SPEECH  AT  PHILADELPHIA.  427 

the  point  of  the  bayonet  excluded  five  members-elect,'  and  substituted 
five  others  in  their  stead  who  had  not  been  elected. 

Coming  back  to  the  proposition  that  this  policy  which  interferes 
with  the  production  of  the  great  staples  of  the  South  has  been  the 
same  which  stood  in  the  way  of  a  return  to  specie  payments,  allow 
me  a  passing  allusion  to  another  development  of  this  Southern  policy. 
You  are  appealed  to  frequently  about  the  interests  of  the  colored  man ; 
but  let  me  inquire,  by  way  of  giving  you  a  suggestion,  in  what  States 
are  there  any  allegations  of  trouble  between  the  races  ?  Have  you 
heard  of  any  trouble  between  the  white  man  and  the  black  man  in 
Virginia,  in  Texas,  in  Arkansas  even,  since  she  became  free  [laughter 
and  cheers],  or  in  any  of  the  States  that,  like  her,  haye  governments 
of  their  own  choosing?  But  in  Louisiana  and  in  Mississippi  there  are 
troubles  all  the  while,  because— and  I  can  conceive  of  no  other  reason 
— because  it  is  to  the  interest  of  those  who  are  not  of  the  people  there 
to  keep  up  a  strife,  that  they  may  make  political  gain  by  it.  [Applause.] 
I 'say  to  you,  my  countrymen,  that  the  two  races  in  the  South  are 
interested  in  the  restoration  and  preservation  of  good  government 
there,  and  that  the  people  of  the  North  are  directly  interested  in  the 
maintenance  of  good  government  there,  and  the  promotion  of  all  their 
industries.  Speculators  may  thrive  under  bad  government,  but  the 
life  and  support  of  agriculture,  that  original  pursuit  of  man,  depend 
upon  the  fair  administration  of  honest  laws,  and  upon  light  taxation. 
We  must  allow  the  people  of  the  South  to  restore  that  kind  of  govern 
ment,  and  then  prosperity  will  come  to  that  section  as  to  ours. 

To  summarize  briefly  my  views  about  a  return  to  specie  pay 
ments,  my  fellow-citizens,  they  are  that  Congress  cannot  arbitrarily 
bring  it  about ;  but  that,  with  the  encouragement  of  the  develop 
ment  of  the  agricultural  resources  of  the  South  and  North,  the  re 
newal  of  all  the  industries  of  the  country,  specie  payments  will  be 
restored  in  exact  harmony  with  the  laws  of  trade  and  commerce. 
Then  the  golden  current  will  again  flow  toward  our  shores,  not  to  be 
checked;  and  we  will  have  a  permanent  support  for  specie  payments, 
and  a  permanent  basis  of  prosperity.  Another  hinderance  in  the 
way  of  a  return  to  specie  payments,  to  which  I  might,  with  propri 
ety,  have  alluded  at  some  length,  is  attributable  to  the  extravagant 
expenditures  of  the  national  Government ;  I  shall  not  comment 
upon  the  enormity  of  the  amount  that  is  collected  from  the  people  of 
Philadelphia,  or  upon  what  on  earth  is  done  with  it  [laughter  and 
applause],  but  I  must  express  something  of  the  surprise  I  felt  to-day 


428  THE  LIFE   OF  THOMAS   A.   HENDRICKS. 

.  when-  somebody  told  me  that  the  taxation  in  Philadelphia  amounted 
to  about  $8,000,000  per  year:  I  did  not  think  that  this  could  be 
possible,  and  then  I  was  further  notified  that  the  debt  was  being  in 
creased  beyond  that  amount  at  a  rate  of  $5,000,000  per  year.  I  do 
not  know  how  that  is  [renewed  merriment  and  applause],  but  indeed 
you  will  need  to  be  a  very  prosperous  people  if  you  are  to  long  sup 
port  so  costly  a  municipality.  Why,  our  people  in  Indiana  think 
that  the  State  administration  is  quite  expensive  enough  when  it  costs 
for  ordinary  purposes  but  a  little  less  than  $1,000,000.  With  a  popu 
lation  of  nearly  2,000,000  people,  the  aggregate  expenditures  for 
our  legislative,  executive,  and  judicial  departments  foot  up  less  than 
$1,000,000,  and  the  people  of  Indiana  think  that  $1,000,000  per 
year  provides  them  a  good  government.  Eated  according  to  popu 
lation,  this  would  be  about  fifty  cents  per  head,  and  I  think  myself 
that,  comparatively  considered,  it  is  at  least  a  cheap  government. 
If,  with  a  population  of  750,000,  you  expend  here  in  carrying  on 
your  local  government  the  enormous  yearly  aggregate  of  $8,000,000, 
I  have  only  to  say  that  the  rate  of  assessment  is  much  higher  than 
that  of  fifty  cents  a  head. 

But  if  that  suits  the  people  of  Philadelphia,  it  is  their  business, 
not  mine ;  I  have  nothing  to  do  with  that,  but  with  respect  to  the 
manner  in  which  General  Grant  and  his  80,000  office-holders  spend 
the  public  money — that  is  my  question  as  well  as  yours.  [Applause.] 
Since  the  close  of  the  war,  in  1865,  there  has  been  collected  by  the 
United  States  authorities  each  year,  I  believe,  on  an  average,  nearly 
or  quite  $350,000,000  ;  and  that  for  ten  years  would  make  an  aggre 
gate  of  $3,500,000,000.  Positively,  it  confuses  me  to  express  it — an 
amount  nearly  twice  the  present  national  debt.  Now,  before  the 
people .  of  Pennsylvania  should  consent  to  a  continuance  of  this 
power,  it  would  be  better  that  there  should  be  an  investigation  and 
an  answer  made  as  to  what  has  been  done  with  this  enormous  sum 
of  money.  But  coming  down  to  the  last  year  we  find,  according  to 
the  report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  that  the  entire  expendi 
tures  for  the  year  were  above  $300,000,000,  while  the  account  of 
expenses  for  ordinary  purposes  footed  up  $285,000,000.  Deducting 
from  that  sum  the  appropriation  for  pensions,  and  the  outlay  on 
account  of  the  interest  on  the  public  debt,  we  will  have  left -for  the 
last  year,  $149,000,000.  Now,  tell  me  what  was  done  with  $149,- 
000,000  last  year.  No  part  of  it  went  to  pay  anything  that  was  the 
result  of  the  war  ;  the  pensions  and  the  interest  on  the  debt  were  all 


SPEECH  AT  PHILADELPHIA.  429 

provided  for  over  and  above  the  $149,000,000.  "  For  ordinary  ex 
penditures  of  the  Government,  $149,000,000."  Where  did  it  go? 
What  has  become  of  the  $149,000,000  ?  Before  the  war  the  national 
expenditures  for  all  purposes  amounted  to  from  $50,000,000  to 
$60,000,000. 

They  are  three  dollars  now  for  every  one  then.  What  becomes 
of  the  money  ?  They  have  said  they  could  not  appropriate  anything 
for  the  Centennial — they  could  not  afford  it  ?  [Laughter  and  ap 
plause.]  Ah  !  there  is  much  that  they  cannot  afford,  that  they  would 
never  leave  unprovided  for.  [Renewed  laughter.] 

A  few  days  ago  I  asked  a  friend  of  mine,  who  has  been  a  member 
of  Congress  for  a  number  of  years,  one  of  the  most  attentive  mem 
bers,  and  one  of  the  most  careful  in  respect  to  the  interests  of  the 
people  of  the  country,  Judge  Holman  [applause] — I  asked  him  how 
much  of  a  reduction  could  be  made  in  the  public  expenditures  per 
year  without  impairing  the  public  service,  but  at  the  same  time 
maintaining  it  in  a  condition  as  efficient  as  that  in  which  it  now  is. 
He  replied,  "  At  least  $40,000,000  per  year."  Think  of  it !  A  sav 
ing  of  $40,000,000  per  year  in  the  national  expenditures !  WThy,  I 
ask  you,  what  length  of  time  would  be  necessary  to  take  us  in  the 
direction  of  a  return  to  specie  payments  if  a  policy  such  as  that  was 
adopted  ?  [Great  cheering.]  - 

Next  in  importance  in  this  connection  is  the  corruption  that  per 
vades  the  public  service.  Let  them  tell  the  dark  story,  and  give  a 
reason  for  it  before  they  come  before  the  people  of  Pennsylvania  for 
a  renewal  of  their  power.  Shall  we  take  the  Interior  Department 
alone?  Shall -we  speak  of  the  Indian  service?  Why,  when  your 
worthy  chairman,  Judge  Campbell,  was  a  member  of.  one  of  the 
purest  cabinets  that  ever  presided  over  American  interests,  when  the 
Indians  were  much  more  numerous  than  they  are  now,  the  Indian 
expenditures  were  but  about  $2,500,000.  In  Mr.  Lincoln's  Adminis 
tration,  as  you  will  see  by  his  message  of  December,  1863,  the  In 
dian  expenditures  were  a  little  less  than  $3,000,000.  In  his  message 
he  states  the  total  expense  for  the  Indians  and  the  pensions  at 
$4,200,000,  and  that  the  pensions  were  above  $1,000,000  at  that  time, 
leaving  the  expenses  of  the  Indians  in  Mr.  Lincoln's  Administration 
at  less  than  $3,000,000.  The.  last  report  from  the  department  shows 
"that  the  Indian  service  last  year  cost  $6,692,000 — nearly  three  dollars 
for  one  as  compared  with  Mr.  Lincoln's  Administration  ;  fully  three 
dollars  for  one  as  compared  with  President  Pierce's  Administration  ? 


430  THE  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  A.   HENDRICKS. 

Where  has  the  money  gone  ?  Tell  me,  you  good- men,  you  men  who 
may  be  afraid  of  the  Pope  [laughter]  and  some  bad  influences  in  that 
direction — tell  me,  where  has  the  money  gone  ?  [Applause.]  A  citi 
zen  of  Philadelphia  has  told  us  something 'on  this  subject— a  Mr. 
Welsh,  not  a  Democrat,  but,  I  believe  from  all  I  hear  of  him,  a  very 
honest  man  [cheers] — and  there  has  been  a  committee  whitewashing 
the  whole  subject  lately.  They  say  it  is  not  so  bad  as  they  expected ; 
not  so  bad  as  Mr.  Welsh  thinks  it  is,  and  not  so  bad  but  what  it 
might  be  worse  [prolonged  merriment  and  applause] ;  and  they  say 
it  was  rather  a  mistake.  [Renewed  humor.]  But  there  is  no  "  mis 
take  "  in  this,  that,  when  the  Indians  were  more  numerous  than  they 
are  now,  it  cost  Mr.  Lincoln  less  than  $3,000,000,  and  it  cost,  under 
the  present  corruption,  more  than  $6,000,000.  There  is  no  "mis 
take  "  about  that ;  and,  when  one  Republican  comes  to  another  and 
says,  "  Stand  in  line,  stand  with  your  toe  upon  the  party  line,"  let 
him  who  is  thus  addressed  ask  the  question,  "  What  became  of  the 
Indian  money?"  Mr.  Welsh,  in  a  statement  made  by  .him,  makes 
an  extract  from  a  letter  that  was  written  last  April  by  an  army-officer 
who  had  been  stationed  at  the  &ed  Cloud  Agency  last  winter.  Out 
there  the  Indians  were  supplied  with  blankets  that  were  too  short  to 
cover  their  poor  bodies  and  too  thin  to  keep  the  winds  of  heaven 
from  them ;  and  this  army-officer's  letter,  from  which  Mr.  Welsh 
quotes,  contains  this  ominous  sentence — I  give  you  the  substance,  if 
not  the  exact  language — "  The  Indians  are  quiet  now."  How  pain 
fully  we  are  reminded  of  the  circumstances  which  gave  rise  to  that 
other  sententious  saying,  "  Order  reigns  in  Warsaw !  "  This  was  ut 
tered  at  a  time  when- the  power  of  .the  Russian  Government  had  de 
stroyed  all  liberty  and  all  personal  rights  in  poor  Poland.  u  The  In 
dians  are  quiet  now  !  "  And  the  letter  goes  on  to  state  that  during 
the  preceding  winter  many  of  them  came  very  near  starvation,  be 
cause  of  the  intrigues  and  corruption  of  the  "Indian  Ring,"  and  it 
goes  on  to  state  that  they  were  compelled  to  eat  dogs  and  wolves 
and  ponies  as  their  only  subsistence.  •  Ah,  "  the  money  was  paid  by 
the  Government!  "  Yes,  two  dollars  for  every  one  that  was  paid 
before ;  and  yet  these  poor  victims  of  the  selfish  avarice  and  corrup 
tion  of  other  men  were  obliged,  in  order  to  maintain  life,  to  eat  that 
which  was  not  fit  for  any  human  stomach.  But  we  need  not  go  out 
to  the  Plains  to  understand  this  subject.  You  recollect  last  spring 
there  was  a  good  deal  of  talk  about  the  Black  Hill  country,  and  that 
certain  white  people  were  determined  to  have  that  country;  and  so, 


SPEECH  AT  PHILADELPHIA.  431 

in  May  last,  tliey  sent  out  for  the  Indians  to  come  in  and  make  a 
treaty  for  the  sale  of  the  Black  Hill  country  to  the  white  men.  If 
you  will  turn  to  the  newspapers  of  the  1st  or  2d  day  of  June, 
you  will  see  an  account  of  a  very  dramatic  scene  in  the  Interior  De 
partment  at  Washington  City.  On  the  1st  day  of  June  last,  Mr. 
Delano,  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  was  in  his  office.  By  his  side 
was  a  bishop,  and  with  him  the  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs — the 
telegraph  gives  this  account — and  the  Indians  were  brought  up  from 
the  tavern  at  which  they  were  staying  in  Washington,  and  they  were 
told  that  the  white  men  wanted  their  country,  and  that  it  was  very 
hard  to  keep  the  white  men  out  of  it.  But  the  Indians  replied  that 
they  did  not  want  to  sell  the  Black  Hill  country,  their  favorite  hunt 
ing-ground.  Just  then,  Mr.  Delano  told  them,  "  If  you  don't  take, 
within  the  next  thirty  days,  the  $25,000  that  I  have  offered  you  for 
the  Black  Hill  country,  the  probability  is  that  you  will  not  get  any 
thing  for  it."  Here  was  this  mighty  people,  of  whom  you  constitute 
a  part,  saying  to  these  poor  barbarians,  "  We  are  stronger  than  you, 
and  .you  must  take  what  we  offer,  or  maybe  we  will  give  you  noth 
ing."  And  when  that  barbarous  sentiment  was  uttered  to  the  poor 
Indian,  old  Bed  Cloud,  one  of  the  chiefs,  arose,  and,  lifting  his  hand 
toward  heaven,  said,  "Great  Spirit,  hear  me,  have  mercy  upon  me, 
pity  me'!  "  Put  side  by  side  the  pure  prayer  of  that  speech  and  the 
intrigues  of  an  American  statesman  !  [Tremendous  applause.]  I  am 
in  favor  of  going  back  to  the  sentiment  of  Andrew  Jackson  (cheers], 
which  was  this :  The  Indian  must-be  made  to  obey  the  authority  of 
the  country,  and  the  white  man  to  respect  the  rights  of  the  Indian. 
[Cheers.]  And  that  is  the  sentiment  that  will  preserve  peace  upon 
the  border,  and  make  the  farmer  upon  the  frontier,  with  his  family, 
secure  in  their  little  cabin. 

My  fellow-citizens,  I  would  like  to  talk  to  you  at  greater  length 
about. the  frauds  that  have  pervaded  the  public  service.  They  com 
mence  in  the  high  places,  and  go  down  to  the  low  places.  They  are 
not  any  longer  concealed ;  they  cannot  be  longer  concealed.  One 
hundred  and  fifty  millions  ($150,000,000)  expended  for  the  ordinary 
purposes  of  Government !  Where  has  the  money  gone  ?  That  is  the 
question.  Let  them  answer  it.  I  know  there  are  Republicans  who 
very  much  dislike  to  leave  their  party  and  join  the  Democrats  and  the 
Liberals  ;  but  then  you  have  to  come  to  it,  you  know.  [Good-humor 
and  applause.]  You  may  as  well  come  now  as  at  any  time.  [Laugh 
ter  and  cheers.]  You  cannot  stand  it  always  ;  you  know  your  party 


432  THE  LIFE   OF  THOMAS -A.   HENDRICKS. 

is  in  the  wrong ;  you  know  there  ought  to  be  a  change ;  so  it  is  -a 
good  time  to  come  now.  [Renewed  hilarity.]  Ah,  they  have  been 
encouraged  by  the  result  of  Ohio  !  [Derisive  laughter.]  It  is  a  great 
encouragement  indeed  when,  with  all  the  power  of  party  discipline 
and  the  expenditure  of  enormous  sums  of  money,  a  Republican 
State,  heretofore  usually  Republican  by  thirty  thousand,  could  only 
be  saved  to  -their  party  by  a  poor  four  thousand  votes.  [Cheers.] 
Now  I  say  to  these  Republicans  that  their  only  remedy  is  to  change ; 
you  cannot  bring  about  reforms  in  your  own  party,  and  you  have  seen 
the  failure  of  the  effort  repeatedly.  What  has  the  indignant  protest 
of  Mr.  Welsh,  of  your  city,  amounted  to  ?  When  he.  came  out  and 
exposed  corruption,  a  committee  was  appointed  to  cover  up  his  ex 
posure.  What  can  he  do  ?  The  only  remedy  is  to  turn  the  party 
out..  I  do  not  claim  that  the  one  party  is  naturally  more  corrupt  than 
the  other ;  I  suppose  that  if  there  were  no  parties  in  the  country, 
and  you  were  to  divide  the  country  into  two  parties,  there  would  be 
as  many  scoundrels  on  the  one  side  as  on  the  other ;  but  if  the  one 
gets  in  power  and  remains  in  power  for  a  number  of  years,  with  the 
control  of  large  expenditures  and  vast  patronage,  do  you  not  know 
that  all  the  adventurers  and  sharp  fellows  and  scoundrels  on  the 
other  side  would  soon  come  across  here  ?  Do  you  not  know  that 
this  class  would  soon  usurp  the  places  of  influence  and  power — that 
they  would  soon  control  the  primary  conventions  and  meetings  of 
the  party  ?  And  do  you  not  know  that  politicians  would  soon  make 
court  to  them  instead  of  fighting  them  ?  I  repeat,  the  only  remedy 
is  to  turn  out,  and  try  a  new  set.  It  is  the  only  remedy  of  the  peo 
ple,  and  I  hope  Pennsylvania  will  set  the  example. 

Pennsylvania  is  a  great  State,  powerful  in  every  respect ;  and  if 
she  will  only  place  herself  this  year  upon  the  side  of  reform,  econo- 
.my,  .and  pure  government,  oh,  what  an  influence  it  will  have  over  the 
whole  country  and  the  world  !  [Applause.]  You  know  how  it  is  in 
respect  to  your  private  affairs.  If  you  have  an  agent'  in  the  con 
trol  of  your  affairs,  and  you  find  that  your  debts  are  increasing  and 
your  property  decreasing,  even  if  you  cannot  find  where  the  fault  is, 
you  will  inaugurate  a  change  before  you  are  entirely  ruined.  If  you 
find  your  favorite  physician  cannot  cope  with  a  disease  that  has  come 
into  your  family,  you  will  call  into  that  family  a  new  physician,  and 
see  if  possibly  some  remedy  cannot  be  found.  So  I  appeal  to  you 
now,  as  the  only  remedy  left  you,  to  bring  about  a  change.  This  Re 
publican  party  has  been  in  power  full  too  long  for  the  good  of  the 


-SPEECH  AT  PHILADELPHIA.  433 

country.  Let  a  change  be  made ;  and  if  that  change.be  not  for  the 
better,  then,  when  experience  shall  show  us  that  there  ought  to  be  a 
change  the  other  way,  I  will  trust  to  the  intelligence  and  the  integ 
rity  of  the  people  again  to  change,  and  place  public  affairs  where 
they  ought  to  be.  [Long-continued  enthusiasm  and  manifestations 
of  approbation,  culminating,  at  the  suggestion  of  several  in  the  audi 
ence,  in  three  rounds  of  cheers  for  the  next  President— Hon.  Thos. 
A.  Hendricks,  of  Indiana.] 

19 


CHAPTER  V. 

HIS    VIEWS    ON   TEMPERANCE    LEGISLATION. 

.  GOVERNOR  HENDRICKS  has  been  frequently  assailed  by 
his  political  opponents  for  his  approval  of  what  is  commonly 
known  as  "the  Baxter  law" — an  act  passed  by  the  State 
Legislature  in  1873.  That  his  views  'on  this  question  may 
be  fully  understood,  a  brief  summary  of  the  case  is  herewith 
given : 

Both  branches  of  the  Indiana  Legislature  in  1873  were 
Republican.  It  was  this  Legislature  which,  upon  the  recom 
mendation  of  Governor  Conrad  Baker,  Governor  Hendricks's 
immediate  predecessor,  passed  the  Baxter  law.  That  law 
was  framed  with  a  view  to  suppressing  the  use  of  intoxicat 
ing  liquors,  and  was  both  rigid  in  its  provisions  and  severe  in 
its  penalties.  Six  weeks  after  his  inauguration,  the  bill  was 
presented  to  Governor  Hendricks  for  his  signature.  It  was 
distasteful  to  him  in  every  particular,  yet  he  knew  that, 
whether  he  vetoed  it  or  not,  it  would  become  a  law.  More- 
•over,  in  order  to  interpose  the  Executive  veto,  it  was  neces 
sary  to  discover  some  constitutional  objection  to  the  bill. 
His  own  judgment  as  a  lawyer  was  to  the  effect  that  the  law 
was  not  in  conflict  with  the  constitution.  On  so  important  a 
question  as  this,  however,  which  had  been  thrust  suddenly 
upon  him,  Governor  Hendricks  was  not  willing  to  abide  his 
own  conclusion.  Accordingly,  he  invited  a  conference  of  able 
lawyers,  who,  after  a  careful  review  of  the  proposed  law,  con 
firmed  the  Governor  in  his  judgment,  that  the  Baxter  bill 
was,  in  its  main  features,  a  constitutional  enactment.  He 
therefore  signed  the  bill. 


HIS   VIEWS  ON   TEMPERANCE  LEGISLATION.  435 

An  effort  was  made  to  create  the  impression  that  the 
Supreme  Court  of  Indiana  decided  the  Baxter  law  to  be  un 
constitutional.  Such  was  not  the  case.  Except  as  to  one 
unimportant  section,  the  Supreme  Court  held  that  the  law 
was  constitutional  in  every  respect.  It  was  saddled  .upon 
the  people  of  Indiana  by  a  Republican  Legislature,  arid 
against  the  wishes  of  the  people.  Governor  Hendricks  was 
anxious  for  its  repeal,  and  desirous  of  substituting  a  judicious 
license  law.  From  the  speech  which  he  delivered  at  Indian 
apolis  before  the  Democratic  State  Convention  in  July,  1874, 
the  following  extract,  relating  to  the  subject  of  temperance 
legislation,  is  made : 

I  think  the  Democracy,  on  the  13th  of  October,  are  expected  to 
declare,  in  plain  terms,  what  legislation  you  approve  in  regard  to  the 
sale  of  intoxicating  liquors.  My  official  duty  places  me  in  a  respon 
sible  relation  to  this  subject.  I  signed  the  law  now  in  force,  known 
as  the  Baxter  bill,  though  I  thought  some  of  its  provisions  unwise 
and  impolitic.  Before  signing  the  bill  I  examined  it  with  all  the 
care  the  time  allowed  would  permit.  I  called  to  my  assistance  two 
of  the  ablest  lawyers  of  the  State,  and  I  came  to  the  conclusion  that 
its  provisions  were  not  in  violation  of  the  constitution.  It  was  not 
a  case  of  hasty  or  inconsiderate  legislation.  It  was  deliberately  con 
sidered  in  both  branches  of  the  Legislature.  Believing  the  bill  to  be 
constitutional,  and  that  it  expressed  the  deliberate  judgment  and  will 
of  the  Legislature,  it  was  my  duty  to  sign  it.  I  believe  the  veto- 
power  is  conferred  to  arrest  unconstitutional  and  hasty  legislation, 
and  legislation  in  derogation  of  fundamental  and  essential  rights,  such 
as  the  equality  of  representation,  and  not  to  enable  the  Governor  to 
oppose  his  opinions  to  those  of  the  people's  immediate  representatives 
upon  questions  of  mere  policy  or  police  regulation.  That  law  has 
not  received  the  popular  support  necessary  to  make  it  efficient.  It 
has  encountered  determined  hostility  on  the  part  of  those  engaged  in 
the  liquor-business,  and  for  many  months*  extreme  temperance  peo 
ple,  in  a  very  extraordinary  manner,  have  shown  an  unwillingness  to 
abide  by  its  provisions. 

Propositions  will  be  brought  before  the  next  Legislature  for  the 
material  modification  or  repeal  of  the  law.  What  legislation  shall 
take  its  place?  Our  Supreme  Court  has  declared  absolute  prohibi- 


436  THE   LIFE   OF  THOMAS  A.   HENDRICKS. 

tion  to  be  unconstitutional,  and  experience,  I  believe,  has  shown  it 
to  be  impracticable.  It  then  only  remains  to  regulate  the  traffic. 

Any  useful  law  must  rest  upon  the  proposition  that  there  are 
serious  evils  to  society  and  to  individuals  connected  with  the  traffic 
in  intoxicating  liquors,  which  it  is  the  province  of  the  law  to  restrain 
and  prevent.  Sales  should  not  be  made  to  boys ;  and,  if  necessary  to 
prevent  it,  the  boy  who  misrepresents  or  conceals  his  age  to  obtain 
liquor  should  be  punished  as  well  as  the  party  who  knowingly  sells 
to  him.  Drunkenness  should  be  punished  as  well  as  selling  to  the 
intoxicated.  All  sales  should  be  forbidden  w7hen  the  public  peace  or 
safety  requires  it;  and,  like  other  pursuits,  it  should  be  suspended  in 
the  night-time.  Perhaps  the  hour  now  fixed  is  unnecessarily  and  in 
conveniently  early,  but  society  should  be  protected  from  the  disturb 
ances  and  bloodshed  incident  to  the  traffic  in  the  middle  of  the 
night. 

I  think  it  might  properly  be  considered  whether  a  difference  in 
regulation  could  not  safely  be  made  for  the  sale  of  vinous  and  malt 
liquors,  and  the  stronger  and  more  intoxicating  drinks.  There  is 
certainly  a  great  difference  in  the  evils  that  result  from  their  use. 

"With  these  and  such  other  provisions  as  may  seem  reasonable 
and  necessary,  I  think  experience  justifies  the  adoption  of  the  license 
system.  The  amount  required  for  the  license  in  each  case  should  be 
greater  than  heretofore.  It  should  be  sufficient  to  make  the  party 
selling  feel  that  his  interest  is  identified  with  that  of  society  in  pre 
serving  order  and  good  conduct  at  his  place  of  business,  and  avoiding 
all  violations  of  law.  This  policy  will  bring  a  large  revenue  into  the 
school-fund,  and  will  prove  more  efficient  in  suppressing  the  evils  of 
intemperance  than  the  present  system.  I  cannot  appreciate  the  ob 
jection  that,  by  receiving  a  license-fee,  society  uses  money  received 
from  an  improper  source.  Under  the  present  law  the  State  grants 
the  permit,  and  declares  the  business  lawful.  Under  a  policy  which 
we  have  long  maintained,  every  violation  of  our  criminal  law  that  is 
punished  by  fines  adds  to  the  school-fund.  No  law  upon  this  subject 
can  be  useful  unless  supported  by  public  opinion  in  its  favor.  The 
wise  legislator  considers  »the  weakness  as  well  as  the  strength,  the 
follies  as  well  as  the  wisdom  of  man,  and  adapts  the  laws  to  his  real 
wants  and  necessities. 

This  speech  was  reiterated  by  all  the  Democratic  speak 
ers  who  canvassed  Indiana  during  1874.  Governor  Hendricks 


HIS  VIEWS   ON  TEMPERANCE  LEGISLATION.  437 

himself  repeated  the  sentiment  which  it  contained,  and  fol 
lowed  up  his  speeches  by  a  forcible  recommendation  to  the 
Legislature,  when  that  body  assembled  in  January,  1875.  In 
his  annual  message  he  said  : 

The  act  of  February  27,  1873,  regulating  the  sale  of  intoxicating 
liquors,  has  not  accomplished  the  good  that  was  expected  by  its  ad 
vocates.  It  has  not  been  sufficiently  in  accord  with  public  opinion  to 
be  efficient  or  useful.  It  has  been  the  cause  of  irritation  without 
remedying  the  evils  it  was  intended  to  suppress.  The  duty  rests 
upon  you  to  revise  and  reform  that  legislation.  In  the  discharge  of 
that  duty,  you  will  assume  that  there  are  evils  to  society  and  to  indi 
viduals  connected  with  the  traffic  in  intoxicating  liquors  which  it  is 
the  province  of  law  to  restrain  and  prevent.  Sales  should  not  be 
made  to  boys  ;  and  drunkenness  should  be  punished  as  well  as  selling 
to  the  intoxicated ;  and  the  minor  who  misrepresents  or  conceals  his 
age  to  obtain  liquor  should  be  punished  as  well  as  the  person  who 
knowingly  sells  to  him.  Sales  should  be  fordidden  when  the  public 
peace  or  safety  requires  it.  Like  other  pursuits  it  should  be  suspend 
ed  after  a  reasonable  hour  in  the  night,  so  as  to  avoid  the  disturb 
ances  incident  to  the  traffic  at  that  time.  It  should  be  made  unlawful 
to  buy  whenever  it  is  made  unlawful  to  sell,  and  punishment  should 
be  inflicted  upon  the  purchaser  as  well  as  the  seller. 

I  recommend  that  a  reasonable  tax,  or  license-fee,  be  imposed. 
It  should  be  higher  than  heretofore,  and  subject  to  forfeiture  of  the 
license  for  disregard  of  the  law.  That  policy  will  bring  a  large  reve 
nue  into  the  school-fund,  if  so  directed,  and  at  the  same  time  identify 
the  interest  of  the  party  selling  ivith  that  of  society,  in  preserving 
order  and  good  conduct  at  his  place  of  business. 

I  suggest,  for  your  consideration,  whether  it  is  not  practicable  to 
make  a  difference  of  regulation  in  respect  to  the  sale  of  vinous  and 
malt  liquors  and  the  stronger  and  more  intoxicating  drinks.  There 
is  a  great  difference  in  the  evils  that  result  from  their  use. 

It  is  perhaps  proper  to  add  that  the  license  law  has  worked 
most  satisfactorily  in  Indiana,  and  has  added  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  dollars  to  the  school  revenues ;  and  the  law,  as 
it  now  exists,  was  to  a  great  extent  the  result  of  Governor 
Hendricks's  personal  and  official  efforts.  It  has  resulted  in 
abating  the  evil  of  intemperance,  and  is  placing  the  legiti- 


438  THE  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  A.   HENDRICKS. 

mate  traffic  upon  a  permanent  and  satisfactory  basis.  The 
assertion  that  the  Germans  of  Indiana  are  hostile  to  Mr.  Hen- 
dricks,  because  of  his  official  conduct  in  this  matter,  is  wholly 
without  foundation  in  fact.  The  Germans  who  are  Demo 
crats  are  satisfied  with  his  course,  and  will  give  him  their 
hearty  support. 

Governor  Hendricks's  letter,  accepting  the  Democratic 
nomination  for  the  vice-presidency,  was  published  simulta 
neously  with  Governor  Tilden's  letter  of  acceptance.  It  reads 
as  follows : 

GOVERNOR  HENDRICKS1 8  LETTER  OF  ACCEPTANCE. 

INDIANAPOLIS,  July  24,  1876. 

GENTLEMEN  :  I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  the  receipt 
of  your  communication,  in  which  you  have  formally  notified 
me  of  my  nomination  by  the  National  Democratic  Convention 
at  St.  Louis  as  their  candidate  for  the  office  of  Vice-President 
of  the  United  States.  It  is  a  nomination  which  I  had  neither 
expected  nor  desired  ;  and  yet  I  recognize,  and  appreciate  the 
high  honor  done  me  by  the  convention.  The  choice  of  such  a 
body,  pronounced  with  such  unusual  unanimity,  and  accom 
panied  with  so  generous  an  expression  of  esteem  and  confi 
dence,  ought  to  outweigh  all  merely  personal  desires  and 
preferences  of  my  own.  It  is  with .  this  feeling,  and  I  trust 
also  from  a  deep  sense  of  public  duty,  that  I  now  accept  the 
nomination,  and  shall  abide  the  judgment  of  my  countrymen. 

It  would  have  been  impossible  for  me  to  accept  the  nomi 
nation  if  I  could  not  heartily  indorse  the  platform  of  the  con 
vention.  I  am  gratified,  therefore,  to  be  able  unequivocally 
to  declare  that  I  agree  in  the  principles,  approve  the  policies, 
and  sympathize  with  the  purposes  enunciated  in  that  plat 
form. 

The  institutions  of  our  country  have  been  sorely  tried  by 
the  exigencies  of  civil  war,  and,  since  the  peace,  by  a  selfish 
and  corrupt  management  of  public  affairs,  which  has  shamed 
us  before  civilized  mankind.  By  unwise  and  partial  legisla- 


HIS  VIEWS  ON  TEMPERANCE  LEGISLATION.  439 

tion  every  industry  and  interest  of  the  people  have  been  made 
to  suffer ;  and  in  the  executive  departments  of  the  Govern 
ment  dishonesty,  rapacity,  and  venality,  have  debauched  the 
public  service.  Men  known  to  be  unworthy  have  been  pro 
moted,  while  others  have  been  degraded  for  fidelity  to  official 
duty.  Public  office  has  been  made  the  means  of  private 
profit,  and  the  country  has  been  offended  to  see  a  class  of 
men  who  boast  the  friendship  of  the  sworn  protectors  of  the 
state  amassing  fortunes  by  defrauding  the  public  Treasury, 
and  by  corrupting  the  servants  of  the  people.  In  such  a 
crisis  of  the  history  of  the  country  I  rejoice  that  the  conven 
tion  at  St.  Louis  has  so  nobly  raised  the  standard  of  reform. 
Nothing  can  be  well  with  us  or  with  our  aifairs  until  the  pub 
lic  conscience,  shocked  by  the  enormous  evils  and  abuses 
which  prevail,  shall  have  demanded  and  compelled  an  unspar 
ing  reformation  of  our  national  Administration,  "  in  its  head 
and  in  its  members."  In  such  a  reformation  the,  removal  of  a 
single  officer,  even  the  President,  is  comparatively  a  trifling 
matter,  if  the  system  which  he  represents,  and  which  has  fos 
tered  him  as  he  has  fostered  it,  is  suffered  to  remain.  The 
President  alone  must  not  be  made' the  scape-goat  for  the  enor 
mities  of  the  system  which  infects  the  public  service  and 
threatens  the  destruction  of  our  institutions.  In  some  re 
spects  I  hold  that  the  present  Executive  has  been  the  victim 
rather  than  the  author  of  that  vicious  system.  Congressional 
and  party  leaders  have  been  stronger  than  the  President.  No 
one  man  could  have  created  it,  and  the  removal  of  no  one 
man  can  amend  it.  It  is  thoroughly  corrupt,  and  must  be 
swept  remorselessly  away  by  the  selection  of  a  Government 
composed  of  elements  entirely  new  and  pledged  to  radical  re 
form. 

The  first  work  of  reform  must  evidently  be  the  restoration 
of  the  normal  operation  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  with  all  its  amendments.  The  necessities  of  war  can 
not  be  pleaded  in  a  time  of  peace ;  the  right  of  local  self- 
government  as  guaranteed  by  the  Constitution  of  the  Union 


440  THE  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  A.   HENDRlCKS. 

must  be  everywhere  restored,  and  the  centralized  (almost  per 
sonal)  imperialism  which  has  been  practised  must  be  done 
away,  or  the  first  principles  of  the  republic  will  be  lost. 

EEPEAL   OF   THE   EESUMPTIOX    CLAUSE. 

Our  financial  system  of  expedients  must  be  reformed. 
Gold  and  silver  are  the  real  standard  of  values,  and  our  na 
tional  currency  will  not  be  a  perfect  medium  of  exchange 
until  it  shall  be  convertible  at  the  pleasure  of  the  holder.  As 
I  have  heretofore  said,  no  one  desires  a  return  to  specie  pay 
ments  more  earnestly  than  I  do  ;  but  I  do  not  believe  that  it 
will  or  can  be  reached  in  harmony  with  the  interests  of  the 
people  by  artificial  measures  for  the  contraction  of  the  cur 
rency,  any  more  than  I  believe  that  wealth  or  permanent  pros 
perity  can  be  created  by  an  inflation  of  the  currency.  The 
laws  of  finance  cannot  b.e  disregarded  with  impunity.  The 
financial  policy  of  the  Government,  if  indeed  it  deserves  the 
name  of  policy  at  all,  has  been  in  disregard  of  those  laws, 
and  therefore  has  disturbed  commercial  and  business  confi 
dence,  as  well  as  hindered  a  return  to  specie  payments.  One 
feature  of  that  policy  was  the  resumption  clause  of  the  act  of 
1875,  which  has  embarrassed  the  country  by  the  anticipation 
of  a  compulsory  resumption,  for  which  no  preparation  was 
made,  and  without  any  assurance  that  it  would  be  practicable. 
The  repeal  of  that  clause  is  necessary,  that  the  natural  opera 
tion  of  financial  laws  may  be  restored,  that  the  business  of 
the  country  may  be  relieved  from  its  disturbing  and  depress 
ing  influence,  and  that  a  return  to  specie  payments  may  be 
facilitated  by  the  substitution  of  wiser  and  more  prudent  leg 
islation,  which  shall  mainly  rely  on  a  judicious  system  of  pub 
lic  economies  and  official  retrenchments,  and,  above  all,  on 
the  promotion  of  prosperity  in  all  the  industries  of  the 
people. 

I  do  not  understand  the  repeal  of  the  resumption  clause 
of  the  act  of  1875  to  be  a  backward  step  in  our  return  to  spe 
cie  payments,  but  the  recovery  of  a  false  step  ;  and,  although 


HIS  VIEWS   ON  TEMPERANCE  LEGISLATION.  441 

the  repeal  may  for.  a  time  be  prevented,  yet  the  determination 
of  the  Democratic  party  on  this  subject  has  now  been  dis 
tinctly  declared.  There  should  be  no  hinderances  put  in  the 
way  of  a  return  to  specie  payments.  "  As  such  a  hinderance," 
says  the  platform  of  the  St.  Louis  Convention,  "  we  denounce 
the  resumption  clause  of  the  act  of  1875,  and  demand  its  re 
peal." 

I  thoroughly  believe  that  by  public  economy,  by  official 
retrenchments,  and  by  wise  finance,  enabling  us  to  accumulate 
the  precious  metals,  resumption,  at  an  early  period,  is  possible 
without  producing  an  "  artificial  scarcity  of  currency,"  or  dis 
turbing  public  or  commercial  credit  ;  and  that  these  reforms, 
together  with  the  restoration  of  pure  government,  will  restore 
general  confidence,  encourage  the  useful  investment  of  capital, 
furnish  employment  to  labor,  and  relieve  the  country  from  the 
"  paralysis  of  hard  times." 

NEEDED   KEFOKMS. 

With  the  industries  of  the  people  there  have  been  fre 
quent  interferences.  Our  platform  truly  says  that  many 
industries  have  been  impoverished  to  subsidize  a  few.  Our 
commerce  has  been  degraded,  to  an  inferior  position  on  the 
high-seas ;  manufactures  have  been  diminished ;  agriculture 
has  been  embarrassed ;  and  the  distress  of  the  industrial 
classes  demands  that  these  things  shall  be  reformed. 

The  burdens  of  the  people  must  also  be  lightened  by  a 
great  change  in  our  system  of  public  expenses.  The  profligate 
expenditure  which  increased  taxation  from  five  dollars  per 
capita  in  1860  to  eighteen  dollars  in  1870  tells  its  own  story 
of  our  need  of  fiscal  reform. 

Our  treaties  with  foreign  powers  should  also  be  revised 
and  amended,  in  so  far  as  they  leave  citizens  of  foreign  birth 
in  any  particular  less  secure  -in  any  country  on  earth  than 
they  would  be  if  they  had  been  born  upon  our  own  soil  ;  and 
the  iniquitous  coolie  system,  which,  through  the  agency  of 
wealthy  companies,  imports  Chinese  bondmen,  and  establishes 


442  THE   LIFE   OF  THOMAS  A.   IIENDRICKS. 

a  species  of  slavery,  and  interferes  with,  the  just  rewards  of 
labor  on  our  Pacific  coast,  should  be  utterly  abolished. 

In  the  reform  of  our  civil  service,  I  most  heartily  indorse 
that  section  of  the  platform  which  declares  that  the  civil  sei*- 
vice  ought  not  to  be  "  subject  to  change  at  every  election," 
and  that  it  ought  not  to  be  made  "  the  brief  reward  of  party 
zeal,"  but  ought  to  be  awarded  for  proved  competency,  and 
held  for  fidelity  in  the  public  employ.  I  hope  never  again  to 
see  the  cruel  and  remorseless  proscription  for  political  opin 
ions  which  has  digraced  the  Administration  of  the  last  eight 
years.  Bad  as  the  civil  service  now  is,  as  all  know,  it  has 
some  men  of  tried  integrity  and  proved  ability.  Such  men, 
and  such  men  only,  should  be  retained  in  office ;  but  no  man 
should  be  retained,  on  any  consideration,  who  has  prostituted 
his  office  to  the  purposes  of  partisan  intimidation  of  compul 
sion,  or  who  has  furnished  money  to  corrupt  the  elections. 
This  is  done,  and  has  been  done,  in  almost  every  county  of 
the  land.  It  is  a  blight  upon  the  morals  of  the  country,  and 
ought  to  be  reformed. 

THE   SCHOOLS    AND   EQUAL   EIGHTS. 

Of  sectional  contentions  and  in  respect  to  our  common 
schools  I  have  only  this  to  say  :  That,  in  my  judgment,  the 
man  or  party  that  would  involve  our  schools  in  political  or 
sectarian  controversy  is  an  enemy  to  the  schools.  The  com 
mon  schools  are  safer  under  the  protecting  care  of  all  the 
people  than  under  the  control  of  any  party  or  sect.  They 
must  be  neither  sectarian  nor  partisan,  and  there  must  be 
neither  division  nor  misappropriation  of  the  funds  for  their 
support.  Likewise  I  regard  the  man  who  would  arouse  or 
foster  sectional  animosities  and  antagonisms  among  his  coun 
trymen  as  a  dangerous  enemy  to  his  country.  All  the  people 
must  be  made  to  feel  and  know  that  once  more  there  is  estab 
lished  a  purpose  and  policy  under  which  all  citizens  of  every 
condition,  race,  and  color,  will  be  secure  in  the  enjoyment  of 
whatever  rights  the  Constitution  and  laws  declare  or  recog- 


HIS  VIEWS  ON  TEMPERANCE  LEGISLATION.  443 

nize  ;  and  that  in  controversies  that  may  arise  the  Government 
is  not  a  partisan,  but  within  its  constitutional  authority  the 
just  and  powerful  guardian  of  the  rights  and  safety  of  all. 
The  strife  between  the  sections  and  between  races  will  cease 
as  soon  as  the  power  for  evil  is  taken  away  from  a  party  that 
makes  political  gain  out  of  scenes  of  violence  and  bloodshed, 
and  the  constitutional  authority  is  placed  in  the  hands  of  men 
whose  political  welfare  requires  that  peace  and  good  order 
shall  be  preserved  everywhere. 

GOVEENOE  TILDEN'S  PUBLIC  SEEVICES. 

It  will  be  seen,  gentlemen,  that  I  am  in  entire  accord  with 
the  platform  of  the  convention  by  wrhich  I  have  been  nomi 
nated  as  a  candidate  for  the  office  of  Vice-President  of  the 
United  States.  Permit  me,  in  conclusion,  to  express  my  sat 
isfaction  at  being  associated  with  a  candidate  for  the  presi 
dency  who  is  first  among  his  equals  as  a  representative  of  the 
spirit  and  of  the  achievements  of  reform.  In  his  official  career 
as  the  Executive  of  the  great  State  of  New  York,  he  has,  in  a 
comparatively  short  period,  reformed  the  public  service  and 
reduced  the  public  burdens,  so  as  to  have  earned  at  once  the 
gratitude  of  his  State  and  the  admiration  of  the  country.  The 
people  know  him  to  be  thoroughly  in  earnest ;  he  has  shown 
himself  to  be  possessed  of  powers  and  qualities  which  fit  him 
in  an  eminent  degree  for  the  great  work  of  reformation  which 
this  country  now  needs ;  and  if  he  shall  be  chosen  by  the 
people  to  the  high  office  of  President  of  the  United  States,  I 
believe  that  the  day  of  his  inauguration  will  be  the  beginning 
of  a  new  era  of  peace,  purity,  and  prosperity,  in  all  depart 
ments  of  our  Government.  I  am,  gentlemen,  your  obedient 
servant, 

THOMAS  A.  HENDRICKS. 

To  the  Hon.  John  A.  McClernand,  chairman,  and  others  of  the  Com 
mittee  of  the  National  Democratic  Convention. 

THE    END. 


A  TEXT-BOOK  FOE  EVERY  DEMOCRAT, 


Democracy  in  the  United 


WHAT  IT  HAS  DONE,  WHAT  IT  IS  DOING, 
AND  WHAT  IT  WILL  DO. 


Late  Member  of  Congress  and  Registrar  and  Solicitor  of  the  United  States 
Treasury  Department. 


WITH  PORTRAITS   ON  STEEL   OF   THOMAS  JEFFERSON, 
ANDREW  JACKSON,  AND  HORATIO  SEYMOUR. 


ONE  12mo  VOLUME,  PRICE  $1.75. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


contrasted 


PAGE 

1 
3 


1.  Forms  of  Government. 

2.  Party  Names.  

8.  Democratic    Principles 

with  others 4 

4.  Washington's  Administration 8 

5.  John  Adams's  Administration '8 

6.  Anti-DemocraticNaturalization  Laws  11 

7.  The  Political  Revolution  of  1800. ..  13 

3.  Attempt  to  deprive  Mr.  Jefferson  of 

his  Election 14 

9.  Thomas  Jefferson 15 

10.  Jefferson's  Political  Principles 18 

11.  Jefferson's  First  Term  as  President.  23 

12.  Jefferson's  Acquisition  of  Louisiana .  24 

13.  Pirates  and  the  Freedom  of  the  Sea.  26 

14.  New  England  Clergymen  preaching 

Anti-Democratic  Principles 27 

15.  Secession  proposed  by  theAnti-Dem- 

ocrats  of  New  England 29 

16.  One  of  Nature's  Noblemen 34 

17.  Proposition  to  impeach  Mr.  Jeffer 

son  36 

18.  Why  the  Embargo  was  abandoned.  83 

19.  "  Free  Trade  and  Sailors'  Rights  " . .  41 

20.  James  Madison    and    his    Political 

Principles 45 

21.  The  Declaration  of  War 47 

22.  The  Anti-Democrats  endeavored  to 

prevent  Loans  and  Enlistments. .  50 

23.  The  Navy  and  Naval  Heroes 51 

24.  William  Bainbridge 53 

25.  Charles  Stewart 54 

26.  Stephen  Decatur 55 

27.  Isaac  Hull 56 


28.  Oliver  Hazard  Perry 67 

29.  John  Rodgers 58 

80.  Thomas  MacDonough 59 

81 .  James  Lawrence 60 

32.  David  Porter 61 

33.  The  Army  and  its  Officers 63 

84.  Zebulon  Montgomery  Pike 64 

35.  Alexander  Macomb.. .                       .  65 


86.  John  E.  Wool 65 

37.  Jacob  Brown 66 

38.  Andrew  Jackson 67 

39.  Eleazar  W.  Ripley 69 

40.  Peter  B.  Porter 69 

41.  William  J.  Worth 70 

42.  The  Principles  and  Intentions  of  the 

Anti-Democratic  Party  during  the 
War  of  1812 

43.  Daniel  D.  Tompkins 

44.  Burning  Blue-Lights 

45.  Disunion  proposed  by  the  Federal 

ists 

46.  The  Hartford  Convention  of  1814.. 

47.  John  Holmes's  Description  of  the 

Hartford     Convention     and     its 
Authors 

48.  Mr.  Madison's  Second  Term 94 

49.  The  Invasion,  Sacking,  and  Burning 

of  Washington 95 

50.  The  Battle  of  New  Orleans 97 

51.  The  Bank  Bills  of  1815  and  1816.. .  100 

52.  James  Monroe,  and  his  Election  to 

the  Presidency 102 

53.  The  Era  of  Good  Feeling 104 

54.  The  Monroe  Doctrine 107 


M 


Contents  of  Democracy  in  the   United  States. 


55.  Banks  and  Banking  in  New  York .  108 

56.  The  Acquisition  of  Florida 110 

57.  Eemarks  on  Mr.  Monroe's  Admin 

istration Ill 

58.  The  New  York  State  Constitutions 

of  1821  and  1846 112 

59.  TheNew York  Electoral  Law  of  1824  116 

60.  Administration  of    John    Quincy 

Adams 118 

61.  Equality  the  only  Honest  Basis  of 

Legislation 121 

62.  William  L.  Marcy 126 

63.  Political  Anti-Masonry 128 

64.  Internal  Improvements  by  the  Gov 

ernment  132 

65.  Veto  of  the  United  States  Bank ...  136 

66.  The  Eemoval  of  the  Deposits 140 

67.  Senatorial  Condemnation  of  Gene 

ral  Jackson 148 

68.  Michael  Hoffman 145 

69.  Eemovals  from  Office 147 

70.  "Terrible  Distress  of  the  Country'1  149 

71.  The  Protective  System 152 

72.  The  Eevival  of  a  Gold  Currency. . .  156 

73.  Distribution  of  the  Public  Eevenue  159 

74.  The  Specie  Circular 163 

75.  Thomas  H.  Benton 166 

76.  Distribution  of  the  Public  Lands 

and  Land  Sales 169 

Disunion  in  its  Early  Stages 171 

Washington's  Farewell  Address ...  173 


77. 
78. 
79.  Silas  Wright 1 


100. 


101. 
102. 


Jackson's  Farewell  Address 183 

Martin  Van  Buren 188 

The  Sub-Treasury 195 

The  Presidential  Election  of  1840..  199 
Tariff  Duties  on  Foreign  Importa 
tions 202 

John  A.  Dix 207 

Internal  Eevenue  Taxes 212 

The  Force  of  Bad  Precedents  in 

Legislation 215 

Heman  J.  Eedfield 218 

Congress  responsible  for  the  Ex 
travagance  of  the  National  Gov 
ernment 221 

Administration  of  John  Tyler 228 

James  K.  Polk,  his  Election  and 

Political  Principles 231 

Mr.  Folk's  Administration 233 

Zachary  Taylor  and  his  Adminis 
tration 235 

Millard  Fillmore  and  his  Adminis 
tration 237 

John  Brown  at  Harper's  Ferry 240 

Azariah  C.  Flagg 242 

Franklin  Pierce  and  his  Adminis 
tration. 246 

James  Buchanan 248 

Mr.  Buchanan's  Administration 251 

The  Tyranny  of  Majorities  in  Con 
gress 257 

Abraham  Lincoln 259 

Mr.  Lincoln  on  his  Way  to  Wash 
ington 261 


103.  Mr.  Lincoln's   Inaugural   Address 

and  its  Consequences 264 

104.  Firing  the  First  Gun 266 

105.  The  Suspension  of  the  Writ  of  Ha 

beas  Corpus 270 

106.  Spies  and  Secret-Service  Agents  . .  278 

107.  The  Trial  of  Civilians  by  Military 

Commissions 276 

108.  The  Early  Avowed  Objects  of  the 

War 279 

109.  Later  Avowed  Objects  of  the  War.  282 

110.  Mr.   Chase's   Financial  Plans  and 

their  Consequences 286 

111.  Mr.  Chase's  Banking  System 2S8 

112.  Why  the  War  lasted  so  long 291 

113.  Congressional  Fishing-Committees.  294 

114.  Mr.  Lincoln's  Plan  of  Beconstruc- 

tion 297 

115.  The  Injury  inflicted  upon  the  Ne 

groes  by  the  Eepublican  Mode  of 
Manumission 299 

116.  Eepublican  Struggle  for  Power  and 

the  Spoils 801 

117.  The    Eeorganization    of  Louisiana 

and  Arkansas,  and  what  came  of  it  804 

118.  Congressional  Caucuses 307 

119.  The  Freedmen's  Bureau 309 

120.  Mistakes  of  the  American  Clergy..  313 

121.  The  proposed  Fourteenth  Amend 

ment  to  the  Constitution 818 

122.  Later  Phases  of  Congressional  Ee- 

construction 820 

123.  The  American  Press  and  the  Tele 

graph 328 

124.  The  Secession  States  were  never,  in 

Law,  out  of  the  Union 327 

125.  Andrew  Johnson 333 

126.  Impeachment  of  President  Johnson  837 

127.  Congress  and  the  Supreme  Court. .  844 
128  Destruction  of  the  Highes-t  Court  in 

the  District  of  Columbia 848 

129.  Exchange  of  Prisoners  during  the 

War 349' 

180.  What  our  Country  was,  is,  and  may 

be 853 

131.  Dean  Eichmond 357 

132.  Negro    War-Services    and    Negro 

Loyalty 860 

183.  President  Johnson  and  Edwin  M. 

Stanton 862 

184.  Slander  as  Political  Capital 866 

135.  What  has  the  Country  gained  by 

Eepublican  Eule? 369 

186.  Are  not  all  the  States  in  Danger?. .  872 

137.  Issues  to  be  tried  by  the  People. . .  876 

138.  Expenses  of  the  National  Govern 

ment 884 

189.  Our  Public  Debt 389 

140.  A  New  Department  of  the  Govern 

ment 392 

141.  The  Sedition  Laws  of  1798  revived.  894 

142.  Conclusion 896 

145.  Appendix.-  Constitution     of    the 

United  States . 

146.  Appendix  No.  2.— The  Test  Vote. 


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